A crack has appeared in the Great Wall. China is admiting that there might have been a problem with food exports, but they are not willing to accept that anything bad happened because of melamine contamination:
China denied on Thursday that grain protein products its companies sold to the United States caused a spate of pet deaths, but it promised to tighten controls and ban a suspect chemical from the food ingredients.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials have said melamine, a chemical used in plastics and fertilizer, was found in wheat gluten and rice protein imported from China for use in some pet foods.
More than 100 brands of pet food have been recalled after reports of kidney failure in pets, and U.S. inspectors say they suspect traces of melamine.
China's Foreign Ministry issued a statement denying that the chemical was the culprit. "At present, there is no firm evidence to show that melamine was the direct cause of the poisoning and death of the pets," said the faxed statement.
I have to admit the Chinese have a point here. Melamine is still puzzling scientists. It just not that toxic, at least as far as we know based on studies. I still think we'll find that melamine is a marker for the presence of something more dangerous, but that's just a hunch.
The Chinese are also allowing the FDA to visit the country:
On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao also said that U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials had been invited to China to work through the case.
"China is also concerned about this incident," Liu said. "China will actively co-operate."
We'll see. The Chinese might allow the inspectors in, but then insist that all that they can look at is what is visible from the hotel balcony.
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