Probe into milk powder causing infant girls to develop breasts under way

NEW DELHI - A panel of nine experts has been assembled by the Ministry of Health to probe claims that milk powder made by a Chinese company caused infant girls to grow breasts.

The ministry said in a statement that it was “directly investigating the claimed premature puberty cases at the request of Hubei province”, and that it would make public the investigation results as soon as possible, China Daily reported. t said a panel of endocrine, paediatric and food safety experts had been set up by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention to study the premature puberty cases in consultation with local authorities.

The statement said “relevant technical organizations” were already testing milk powder samples from the market and from homes of the infant girls.

The ministry admitted in the statement that some quality inspection agencies had refused requests from members of the public to test milk powder.

According to China’s Food Safety Law, the statement said consumers could send the food they perceived to have quality problems to qualified inspection agencies for quality tests.

At a press conference on August 10, Ministry of Health spokesman Deng Haihua said food safety authorities were testing samples of milk powder made by Synutra. (ANI)