TIANJIN - The following commentary has been widely circulated on Chinese BBSs and and email.  It was received by one of our readers, who translated it into English.

It gives me hope (especially after this) that Chinese people are willing to question those in authority.  It's not a trait that Confucius would've been proud of, but it's one needed for a civil society.

Here is the email:

The report on CCTV news tonight (Sep.18th) about the tainted milk powder was really worth thinking about. The famous anchor announced the names of the 22 dairy companies whose dairy products contained melamine one by one. Almost all the famous national dairy companies’ names are on the list.

 

First, the milk powder produced by Yashili (A famous Guangdong dairy company) was confirmed to have melamine. However, the news emphasized, the milk powder they exported to Yemen, Bangladesh, and Myanmar was not tainted. The milk powders supplied for the Olympic and the Paralympics games were not tainted. This news told us the Chinese dairy companies followed two standards. They would rather to use tainted milk to poison Chinese kids than to do any harm to foreign customers. This news also told us all the dairy companies on the list are capable of producing milk powders that meet the requirements of standard products. However, they refused to claim their basic duty to all the Chinese kids. The only thing we need is not poisoned milk, is this luxurious? This news proves one thing: leaving tainted milk to Chinese kids shows how Chinese people look down upon their own fellows. 

 

The news also mentioned milk produced by these companies after Sep.14th are safe. This told us, after the outbreak of the Sanlu crisis on Sep.11th, all other dairy companies strengthened their quality control and management. That means the quality crisis could be prevented before happening. It only took three days for all the dairy companies to get rid of melamine in their products. So there are two reasons. One, companies lack quality control and management. Second, the melamine is put into dairy products on a large scale on purpose. According to the previous news, if all the dairy companies can produce standard milk for export, their quality controls are out of the question. To produce products with the same kind of tainted chemical in a large scale for a long time is easy to be examined by the quality control department. Also, so many dairy companies chose the same kind of chemical to add, meaning it is an unwritten rule in the dairy industry. Even if, as they claimed, the chemical is added by dairy farmers, they are still guilty for conniver, connivance and permissiveness. That makes no difference whether they added melamine or not.

Last but not least, the news reported that some expert reminds the audience that melamine is a harmless chemical product. Children who suffered kidney stone disease can get rid of the stone by drinking lots of water, even renal failure is still treatable. This told us, no one should underestimate an expert’s effrontery. They are the ones who would always jump out to give the last hit. There are already cases of dead babies. The experts are immorally wrong by saying that. The news also told us, every time there are cases like this, there are always experts to give explanations to quiet down the angry people. There must be a complex background behind that. Some people need those experts to speak out on something they can’t. Experts apparently don’t represent any interest group, so their scientific opinion and knowledge will make people believe them easily. One more thought-provoking point is, on the news, it didn’t mention the names of these experts. Are they scared of being exposed to the angry public? Or there aren’t any experts really giving those scientific explanations? This news also proves: Over simplify the tainted milk’s harmful results will make it fade away, just like the Sichuan school buildings during the earthquake.

Thanks to XQ for the translation.