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While the  health and legal status of jailed melamine milk campaigner Zhao Lianhai  remains unclear, mainland parents must fend for themselves in seeking redress and treatment for children harmed by tainted milk.  
Taking legal action against milk manufacturers is no longer feasible since the two-year deadline to file lawsuits has passed.
 Many parents must  simply rely on donations to treat their  youngsters.  
Some parents have  joined a controversial campaign to monitor the quality of milk products. Whenever they suspect a problem,  they contact the manufacturer and threaten to  expose their findings in the media. 
Manufacturers usually dismiss them by giving them a few thousand yuan, some of the victims' parents said.
Two weeks after a Beijing court said it would review a possible medical parole for Zhao,  mystery still surrounds  Zhao's  condition and when or whether he will be granted medical parole.
Zhao, whose son developed  kidney stones after drinking melamine-tainted milk, was sentenced on November 10 to 2 1/2  years in jail for 'provoking quarrels and making trouble'  by trying to help other families whose children were made ill by the milk.
The jailing sparked an international outcry  and Hong Kong politicians made a rare united call for Zhao's release. 
Xinhua announced on November 23 that the court was reviewing Zhao's medical parole application, apparently reacting to the mounting public pressure.
Zhao's former lawyers and friends have received no update about Zhao or his wife, Li Xuemei , since November 22, when two lawyers were sacked by a note supposedly written by Zhao. Li has been under house arrest and denied permission to meet anyone for more than two weeks. Calls to her home  have gone unanswered. 
Lew Mon-hung,  a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said yesterday he had been pressured by Beijing to stop lobbying for Zhao.
 Zhao's supporters said they were worried about the 38-year-old, since they did not know if it was his decision to sack the lawyers and apply for medical parole. 
 'I hope someone else will pick up Zhao's role and continue the fight,' said Zhao's former lawyer Li Fangping . 'I hope another Zhao Lianhai will appear.'  The Beijing-based Transition Institute has been helping parents in the search for  donations. 
Zhou Xiong's three-year-old son, who suffered acute kidney failure, has received more than 50,000 yuan (HK$58,150) in donations so far for an operation. 
Another group  of 12 children in need of donations will soon be  revealed. 
Some parents have become milk quality watchdogs,  going to milk manufacturers if they find problematic dairy products and asking for money.
Zhao's former lawyer Peng Jian  said he supported them. He said:  'The most effective approach  is to turn all victims' parents  into milk  quality  supervisors, and use a  quality problem as leverage to get compensation from milk manufacturers. 
'This is because legal action against them for what they did in the past has been blocked.'
Most of the parents on the government compensation list of 300,000 received only 2,000 yuan - the compensation standard for so-called regular symptoms.
Victims with severe symptoms got 30,000 yuan, while 200,000 yuan went for  the six who were confirmed killed by the tainted milk.
The watchdogs
Parents are monitoring milk quality and asking companies for money
The number of children soon to be revealed who are seeking donations for treatment after drinking tainted milk is: 12




Parents beg for cash to aid milk scandal children