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SCMP Reporter

Melamine is not poison. The chemical has about the same level of toxicity as table salt, according to mainland and US sources.
When an infant, raised on a formula diet and with a weak renal system, consumes melamine-contaminated products  over a long  period, bladder or kidney stones occur.
Melamine is an artificially synthesised chemical compound created in 1834 by the German chemist Justus von Liebig,  who  also discovered that nitrogen was  an essential plant nutrient and  came to be known as the 'father of the fertiliser  industry'.
Up until the mid-1990s, melamine was an extremely expensive compound in demand in the chemical industry for its colourless, tasteless and non-toxic properties and its use in a wide variety of applications.
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica,  it was used as a flame  retardant on jumbo jets, in high-quality fabrics of brand-name apparel, kitchen glues, tableware and in  pharmaceuticals.
Melamine was largely known for these industrial applications until last year when it was found in China-made pet food exported to North America which made thousands of pets ill and killed several hundred of them.
It has been added to dairy products on the mainland to fake protein levels.  The chemical  is high in nitrogen, and mainland dairy plants still use a century-old method called the Kjeldahl test  to determine protein levels by testing for nitrogen. The United States  replaced the Kjeldahl test with infrared analysers  in 2000.
Chemical engineer Wang Jiaming   from the Sichuan Chemical Works Group,  which supplies  melamine on the mainland, said the price of  melamine had dropped substantially in recent years.
This was due, he said,  to industrial advances that mean most melamine is now made from the organic compound urea. Mr Wang said the mainland's total melamine output last year was more than 800,000 tonnes, more than triple the 2001 total,  making the mainland the world's biggest manufacturer of the chemical.
Chemical snapshot
What is it?
An organic chemical rich in nitrogen
Main uses
When turned into a resin and combined with formaldehyde it forms a plastic typically used in glues, plastic utensils and flame retardants. Its high nitrogen content also sees it used widely in fertilisers
Other uses
Nitrogen levels are a key indicator of protein levels in food. Melamine is believed to be used widely on the mainland to give the appearance of higher protein content in animal feeds
Dangers
Melamine is banned in food in both China and the US. It is not considered highly toxic when ingested, but it has been shown to cause kidney and bladder stones, and other urinary problems in animals
SOURCE: US FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION



Melamine - an industrial staple