Toxic Milk in Beijing

Trisha Butterworth
Jan 25th

Over 260,000 families in Beijing, China have had their children become severely ill with many issues including kidney stones, and even to death due to melamine in formula. Two men from the factory known to be part of the issue were sentenced to death along with many others sentenced to jail that also had part in the situation. As of now, they are offering compensation to these families. Only 2 families whose child dies, and 889 families whose children are sick have taken the compensation. The families feel that the little compensation is not enough for the risk of their children. Those children who died, cannot be taken care of with just some money. And for those who are surviving, the families say the barely 2000 dollars cannot justify what happened, and what could possibly be the long-term effects for their children. These families are fighting the system for better agreements. There are even some families not getting any compensation because their case was not followed properly or is not proven, leaving those families in disarray.
I feel awful for these families because I could not imagine going through something such as this. I know that a compensation for the trouble is nice, but having the government try to pay you off for the death of your child, is wrong. Although this was one factory citing with this issue, who knows if it will happen again, and if those people only sentenced for time in jail will get out and do the same thing or try to again. I think something of this sort, dealing with health, should be taken much heavier than just some families who were affected by it, and its all over now.