China-The Formula milk tradgedy there were no winners.
China sentenced two men to death and imposed life in prison on Sanlu Group Co.’s former head for their involvement in the tainted-milk scandal that claimed the lives of at least six babies, Xinhua news agency said.
Sanlu’s former chairwoman Tian Wenhua was sentenced to life in prison by the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People’s Court today, the news agency said. Zhang Yujun, who made and sold melamine- laced protein powder, and Geng Jinping, who produced and marketed toxic food, were sentenced to death, Xinhua said.
At least six babies died, and 294,000 suffered kidney ailments and urinary problems after drinking infant formula tainted with melamine, the Ministry of Health has said. Sanlu and 21 other companies were found to have sold dairy products containing the toxic chemical, which was added to raw milk to make its protein content appear higher.
"China pays great attention to food safety and product quality," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a press briefing today. "In the Sanlu case, China is strictly handling the case according to the law," she said, adding the country has strengthened its rules and regulations after the scandal.
Nine Others Sentenced
Nine other people were sentenced today. Gao Junjie was given a suspended death sentence for his role in the scandal, Xinhua said, without providing more details on what he did. Two others were jailed for life and six, including three former Sanlu executives, were jailed for between five and 15 years.
The court had previously said it would sentence 21 people implicated today but later said nine others would be sentenced at other courts, the agency added, without saying when that will take place.
Countries and regions including the U.S., the Philippines and the EU restricted or banned imports of Chinese food containing milk or milk powder as more dairy products were found to contain melamine. China’s exports of dairy produce plunged 92 percent in October compared with a year earlier, the China Daily newspaper reported on Dec. 2.
In an attempt to restore consumer confidence in Chinese dairy products in the wake of the scandal first exposed in September, the government set limits for melamine content in dairy food and banned products that don’t meet the standard.
Sanlu Fined
Sanlu, which filed for bankruptcy last month, was fined about 50 million yuan ($7.3 million) today by the court over its role in supplying contaminated baby formula. Tian was fined more than 20 million yuan, according to the court ruling, the state media added.
Apart from the 21 defendants, 39 others have so far been arrested for their alleged involvement in the scandal, Xinhua said.
Twenty-two Chinese dairy companies, including Sanlu, China Mengniu Dairy Co., and Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. are being sued by families whose children either died or were sickened after drinking melamine-tainted milk formula.
Lawyers for 213 families filed the suit by post to the Supreme People’s Court on Jan. 16, according to a statement from Gong Meng, a Beijing-based, non-profit group made up of lawyers and legal experts.
The Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court refused to accept a lawsuit from parents in southern Guangdong province filed on Oct. 8 against Sanlu and the China Dairy Industry Association demanding 900,000 yuan in compensation, according to Xinhua. A lawsuit filed by parents in Gansu against the company was also rejected by the provincial court the same month, the report said.
The dairy companies set up a compensation fund offering 200,000 yuan to families whose children died after drinking the contaminated formula, Chinese media reports said last month, citing parents who had received offers.
Sanlu filed for bankruptcy last month after halting its business in September when the scandal broke. The company had 1.1 billion yuan of debt, including 902 million yuan it borrowed to pay the medical fees of children sickened after consuming its formula.
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