The Daily Matter | The Chinese milk scandal: Why did some children die and some live?

Scientists have found a bacteria living in the gut that makes melamine more toxic – a finding that could explain why some children in China died and others lived after drinking milk tainted with the chemical in 2008.

In a study on rats, scientists at the University of North Carolina Greensboro and the Shanghai Jiaotong University found the germ Klebsiella terrigena metabolises melamine to create a more toxic byproduct called cyanuric acid.

Rats who were given antibiotics to kill the germs excreted twice as much of the melamine as rats that didn’t get antibiotics, and they experienced fewer kidney stones and other damage.

Back in 2008, the melamine laced milk killed at least six babies and left 300,000 sick, many suffering from kidney stones and renal failure.