FONTERRA PLAYS BALL WITH THE CHINESE REGIME

While Fonterra might just want the poisoned milk powder scandal to go away, it is now clear that the Chinese regime is concealing the true number of deaths.

It is also clear that Fonterra is turning a convenient blind eye to the activities of the Chinese regime.

From the Chicago Tribune (Nov 19):

'Li Xiaokai died of kidney failure on the old wooden bed in the family farmhouse, just before dawn on a drizzly Sept. 10.

Her grandmother wrapped the 9-month-old in a wool blanket. Her father handed the body to village men for burial by a muddy creek. The doctors and family never knew why she got sick. A day later, state media reported that the type of infant formula she drank had been adulterated with an industrial chemical.

Yet the deaths of Xiaokai and at least four other babies are not included in China's official death toll from its worst food safety scare in years. The Health Ministry's count stands at only three deaths.

The stories of these uncounted babies suggest that China's tainted milk scandal has exacted a higher human toll than the government has so far acknowledged. Without an official verdict on the deaths, families worry they will be unable to bring lawsuits and refused compensation.'

Fonterra, which has a 43 percent share in the Chinese SanLu dairy factory where the melamine-laced milk powder was first discovered, is donating $8.4 million to charity. This money will be drip fed over a period of five years.

This donation is of little use to Chinese families who are now struggling with huge health bills for children who consumed the tainted milk powder.

One Chinese family, for example, has spent its entire cash income for the year to pay for medical treatment - and has since borrowed more.

This is a familiar story among Chinese families who have used the tainted milk powder. Fonterra's charitable donation, which is largely a PR exercise, will not help these families.

It's estimated that more than 90,000 children have been sickened by the tainted milk powder.

So what about financial compensation?

The Chicago Tribune reports:

'Lawyers, doctors and reporters have said privately that authorities pressured them to not play up the human cost or efforts to get compensation from the government or Sanlu, the formula maker.'

It's clear that Fonterra is turning a convenient blind eye to the pressure being applied by the Chinese regime. Certainly it has not offered to help the Chinese families involved seek financial compensation.

According to Fonterra spokesman David Glendining: “The question of support for victims is a separate issue that is in the hands of the Chinese Government,”

Yeah, right - it's in the hands of the Chinese Government which is actively trying to prevent claims for compensation.

Does Glendining seriously expect us to believe his nonsense?

Fonterra's standpoint is motivated purely by self-interest. It has revealed itself as a callous and greedy corporation.

Fonterra is now busy trying to sell off its stake in SanLu, thereby washing its hands of the whole affair - and leaving the Chinese families blighted by its milk powder to fight for financial compensation from a hostile Chinese Government.

Their chances of compensation must be regarded as slim at best.