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China's Health Ministry has ordered an investigation into claims that powdered baby milk caused girls — as young as four months old — to grow breasts.
The investigation by the country's food safety authorities will look into allegations that three girls, aged between four and 15 months, were found to have abnormal premature pubescent developments allegedly after consuming the same baby formula. The infants, who live in three separate towns near the central Chinese city Wuhan, were reportedly found to have as much estradiol, a female sex hormone, in their tiny bodies as an adult woman. The babes also had three to seven times the expected level of another hormone called lactogen, an investigation by Beijing's Health Times newspaper said. (See pictures of baby dictators.)
While the allegedly hormone-laced milk has, so far, only affected those three girls, it is eerily reminiscent of China's tainted milk scandal in 2008 where at least six infants died and 300,000 were injured after being fed formula contaminated with the chemical melamine.
For their part, Synutra International Inc., the company that produces the milk powder, denied the claims. “We are completely confident that our products are safe and our quality levels are industry-leading,” said Liang Zhang, chairman and chief executive officer of Synutra told Bloomberg. Still, the company's stock, which is listed on the NASDAQ, fell 27% — the largest drop for the company since 2008. (See pictures of babies during their first year of life.)
(Read: China's Tainted Milk Scandal Grows).
Ministry orders probe into milk powder hormone claims(Xinhua)
BEIJING -- China's Health Ministry has instructed food safety authorities in Hubei Province to investigate claims that milk powder has caused infant girls to grow breasts, a ministry spokesman said.
Ministry spokesman Deng Haihua said at a regular press conference that food safety authorities were already testing samples of milk powder made by Syrutra, a Qingdao-based company.
They were also conducting a medical investigation into the cause of the infants' conditions in consultation with medical experts, he said.
Deng said causes for sexual precocity of children were complicated and could be caused by a wide range of factors, and experts had no way to definitely determine if food or environmental factors were involved.
Media reports said parents and doctors in Hubei had feared that hormones in milk powder produced by Syrutra had caused at least three infant girls to develop prematurely. Another case was reported in Beijing.
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