Melamine infood....really toxic?

[Ganoderma]

China was busted again for tainted food, and apparently some babies are sick from melamine in powdered milk (local news, sorry no sources)....that chinese tainted food has made its way here and people are a little pissed off.

 

the gov is now talking about raising the allowed ppm of melamine from 0 to 2.5 ppm, likely so they can still buy the cheap Chinese stuff rather than local stuff thats more expensive....

 

 

is it safe, anyone know what this causes?

[Michaelangelica]

The toxicity of melamine to mammals is low. Available publications report the most sensitive value for oral 50% lethal dose (LD50) is 3161 mg/kg in rats.1, 2 The most recent reported no-observed-adverse-effect-levels (NOAELs) are 63 mg/kg bw/day (13 weeks, oral with feed, in rats); 240 mg/kg bw/day (28 days, oral with feed, in rats); 417 mg/kg bw/day (14 days, oral with feed, in rats); and 1600 mg/kg bw/day (13 weeks, oral with feed, in mice).2 In addition, the most sensitive calculated NOAELs for oral reproductive and developmental toxicity in rats are 400 mg/kg bw/day (maternal) and 1060 mg/kg bw/day (fetal), respectively.1, 2 The most commonly observed effects in animal experiments where melamine was administered orally include: reduced food consumption, body weight loss, bladder stones, crystalluria, epithelial hyperplasia of urinary bladder, and lowered survival rate. However, no kidney failure or clinical symptoms of kidney failure were observed from these studies, including in a dog study. 3, 4

US FDA/CFSAN - Interim Melamine and Analogues Safety/Risk Assessment

Isn't melamine waht they make picnic ('unbreakable') plates from?

 

Melamine: Carcinogenic Potency Database

[WayneSMT]

Toxicity of Melanime is low, pretty much an inert substance. However they are really fine particles and it wreaks havoc with the kidneys so most go out with renal failure. Remember all the pets that were poisoned with melamine in the pet food a while back. Same thing. It is the size of the particles that is the problem, not so much the substance, vary the particulate size and you get a whole host of things. Did that dog study tell you what size of particles they used in the study? The particle sizes remain the same. The body does not break them down any further. Larger particles would pass right through the bowls, but inspectors would see those large particles. The melamine in the current stuff is as fine as volcanic ash if not finer. That is a whole different thing. Their particulate size was too large to pass enough into the bloodstream to cause renal failure, make it small enough and renal failure is exactly what you get. Two options, transplant or dialysis for short term.

[Michaelangelica]

Toxicity of Melanime is low, pretty much an inert substance. However they are really fine particles and it wreaks havoc with the kidneys so most go out with renal failure. .

Tahnks WayneSMT

Some research paper! no references given at the end! So sorry I can't check. however reeding the article I don't get the feeling that particle size has occurred to them

Brief histopathological reports from affected pets indicate that acute/subchronic kidney failure is the mechanism of toxicity. It is still unclear whether there is a direct relationship between the kidney failure and crystallization in the kidneys subsequent to purported melamine consumption, although crystals were found in the kidneys and urinary bladder (crystals are much smaller than stones and their presence does not necessarily result in tissue/organ pathology or dysfunction).

 

High (4500 ppm or 263 mg/kg bw/day) and continuous (2 years) dietary exposure to melamine in controlled studies is associated with an increase in the production of bladder stones and an increased incidence of urinary bladder tumors in male rats.2, 4 The two incidences are highly associated with each other.5

 

So something else to kill us like FIne Particle Pollution.:)

What about me scraping my melamine plate?

 

Pretty soon , with all these minute poisons, we may have proof for homoeopathy?!

[Ganoderma]

excellent thanks guys. wayne some very interesting insight, thanks.....i too was thinking...."melamine is used evreywhere, for food storage etc....whats up with this?" but now i see.

 

i remember the dog food thing, and now its a baby food (milk powder) thing in china and because we are buying a lot of chinese stuff here now, there are big arguments here about it. so now i see, they also said it was kidney problems the babies in china were suffering.

[Michaelangelica]

US issues alert over Chinese melamine

 

Posted Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:46pm AEDT

 

The United States has issued a new alert on Chinese food imports after finding melamine and another toxic chemical, cyanuric acid, in several products.

 

The new alert from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) covers a range of Chinese products including drinks, sweets, baby and pet food.

 

It also allows US inspectors to seize any Chinese products suspected of being contaminated.

 

Restrictions were already in place on dairy products after the death of four Chinese children from kidney failure and thousands more falling ill after consuming dairy products laced with melamine, which is usually used in making plastics and fertiliser.

 

- BBC

US issues alert over Chinese melamine - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[Michaelangelica]

A sane discussion of the problem.

FAQ: Melamine in U.S. Baby Formula

Questions and Answers About Trace Amounts of Melamine in U.S. Infant Formula

By Daniel J. DeNoon

WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

 

Nov. 26, 2008 -- Tiny "tr

It seems you are fairly safe in the USA; But in China-

Over 52,000 children developed kidney stones. There were over 13,000 hospitalizations and at least two deaths.

FAQ: Melamine in U.S. Baby Formula

 

It might still be a good idea to look at the symptoms listed for melamine poisoning in the article.

[CraigD]

I’m not a chemist, but from a bit of research, it appears to me that recent pet and human “melamine poisoning” are, as WayneSMT noted in post #3, due to kidney problems caused by crystals, but that these crystals are not simply the compound melamine ([ce]C3H6N6[/ce]), but melamine cyanurate, a complex of melamine and cyanuric acid ([ce]C2H3N3O3[/ce]).

 

There shouldn’t be any melamine in foods. It doesn’t improve them nutritionally – nor make them toxic. However, because it contains a lot of nitrogen, as do the very large molecules of proteins, dishonest food produces may add it to foods to fool common tests for protein content.

 

Livestock feed is permitted to contain additives containing cyanuric acid (as an aid to ruminant digestion). If melamine adulterated foods are accidentally combined with cyanuric acid containing animal feeds, dangerous amount of melamine cyanurate can form. These crystals can stick together to form kidney stones several mm in diameter, causing pain, illness, or even death.

What about me scraping my melamine plate?

Melamine plates and utensils are made of melamine formaldehyde polymer resin. This plastic doesn’t even melt until 250-350 C, and would require even a higher temperature to depolymerize (I think, at normal oxygen levels, it would ignite before first). So, unless you bake your melamine resin plates in a kiln or weld on it, then soak it in decomposing urine, it should be pretty safe. ;)

 

I have a few melamine plates and utensils, and like them a lot. :thumbs_up They’re light, practically unbreakable, and don’t seem to stain. My only complaint is that they less scratch-resistant than metal.