Poisoned Baby Formula TURNED 300k Kids Into “BIG HEAD BABIES”

Barabing, baraboom. Something very strange was happening in. China. I mean, not all of China, but a a. small city called Fuyang City. News. reports started coming out about, quote, "big head babies in Fuyang." They called. it a scandal. They called it the big. head baby scandal of Fuyang City. I. mean, there were stories that people. would travel across China to go to. Fuyang and they'd be walking on the. streets and they would see these. families on the street begging for help, begging for donations. Please, help my. child. And then the passersby would be.

like, "I don't know what's going on. Can. I take a look at your child?" They would. pull back the blanket or the parents. would pull the baby out of the stroller. and they would notice 6-month-old. infants whose heads were becoming larger. than full-size watermelons. And they would be taken aback. I mean, not only because this child looked like. they were in excruciating pain, but. because this wasn't even the first child. with this condition that they had seen. in town recently. I mean, none of the.

children were born with a genetic. disorder. Their parents stated that they. had, quote, "normal-sized heads" before. one day their heads just started. swelling or they called it ballooning. They didn't even know why. I mean, it's. very clear, though, something very. strange was happening to the babies in. Fuyang. But what? The answer will result in 300,000. injured children, many dead, seven. government officials publicly removed. from their positions, 20 people. sentenced to prison, and two people.

sentenced to death by the courts. We would like to thank today's sponsors. who have made it possible for Rotten. Mango to support Share Our Strength's No. Kid Hungry campaign. They're working to.

not only provide food security, but also. provide resources for families to tackle. the root causes of hunger. This. episode's partnerships have also made it. possible to support Rotten Mango's. dedicated team of researchers and. translators. And we would also like to. thank you guys for your continued. support as we work on our mission to be. worthy advocates of these causes. Now, as always, full show notes are available. at rottenmangopodcast.com, but just a. quick disclaimer. I think it's very. important to note that we recognize what. a privilege it is to have the freedom of. choice when it comes to food. Our.

intention is to not speak over those. facing food insecurities. That is an. epidemic on a global scale. Our. intention here is just to provide. context for the experiences that these. families affected in today's case had. And because xenophobia has become such a. huge problem, I mean, even more so now. than before, I would like to reiterate. that this is not a Chinese problem. This. is a problem that's happened in the. United States before as well. I mean, this is happening all across the world. and I want to say that nobody else was.

more negatively impacted by this than. Chinese citizens. So, keep in mind the. Chinese citizens, the Chinese civilians, the consumers are different entities. than the Chinese government. They are. not synonymous with one another. So, with that being said, let's get into it. It's hard to say what Mr. Wang was. thinking that day. He's standing inside. of his house. He's too anxious to sit. down. He's too anxious to lie down. He. just wants things to be over and done. with. He's standing in front of his. apartment window staring outside. And he.

was being blamed for the dead babies. I. mean, why why was he being blamed for. the dead babies? All the parents are. blaming him. The whole nation sees him. as some sort of sick, twisted, sadistic. baby killer. He's the vice president for. one of the biggest companies in China, for crying out loud. He should not be. treated this way. This was not supposed to be how his life. goes. He was supposed to have the money, the prestige. He's not supposed to have. a death sentence trial looming over his.

head for the death of babies. Mr. Wang contemplated what his life had. become. And then he very slowly opened the. window and flung himself out. He was one of the executives present at. the secret meeting on August 1st, 2008. The secret meeting that took 7 hours. 100 days of hell started when the CEO of. this massive conglomerate got the. results back that their product tested. positive for deadly amounts of a.

chemical. We sent out a batch. The results came. back. 15 out of the 16 samples have. incredibly high levels, enough to kill. The CEO of the company took that report. into the conference room and shut the. door and none of the executives were. allowed out until 4:00 a.m. the next. morning. During the first hour of the secret. meeting, a pact of silence was. implemented. If you talk, we all go. down. If you talk, I'm going to take you. down with me. Once the pact was made, the rest of the.

night focused on the cover-up plan. It. was being hatched. Each executive picked. up their phones and called the most. influential person that they knew in. their contacts. Government officials, PR. reps, mayors, CEOs of massive media. companies. Pull some strings. Milk every. connection that you have. You whip out. every dirty little trick if that's what. it takes. You know a secret about an. official, you use it now. Blackmail, extortion, we're not above it. This is. an all Hail Mary. Do you guys get the. message? Either this works or we're all.

going to be cellmates. Once the right calls and threats were. made, everybody was on board. The. cover-up was initiated. They just had. one last thing on the meeting agenda. Edit the test results. Blackout that. word and replace it with substance A. Nobody can really know what's in their. products. They are, after all, a sponsor of the 2008 Summer Olympics in. Beijing. They are, after all, the.

preferred choice for Olympians. Just a few months prior to the secret. board meeting, May 12th, 2008, a. magnitude 8 earthquake struck Sichuan. province in northwestern China. The. earthquake was probably the 14th. deadliest earthquake known to humankind, killing more than 87,000 people. And. usually, in like the absolute darkest. moments of history, sometimes, not all. the time, sometimes, the world does come.

together for help. So, regardless of. diplomatic relations, everybody starts. reaching out. They start sending people. to Sichuan. Finland sent enough tents to. house 200,000 displaced civilians along. with 30,000 blankets. Japan's rescue. teams were one of the first foreign. groups to enter Sichuan. The Philippines. sent medical team. South Korea. dispatched a 41-person international. rescue team. Over 1.3 million volunteers. from China and from around the world, they gathered at Sichuan to help. A.

total of $10 billion was donated to help. with the civilians, which. Say no. Please let me know if you wanted. me to cover this case because the. devastation was linked to a ton of. actual crimes. It wasn't just an. earthquake and the $10 billion relief. fund, a good chunk of it was stolen. But I digress. In that moment, people. are trying to help. America sent relief. and supplies. American companies came. together to create a fund of over $30. million to send over to the civilians.

Chinese companies rallied. They donated. millions of dollars. One dairy giant in. China even donated $2 million worth of. milk powders and baby formula. I mean, this is all hands on deck. Everybody wants to help. But there was a. very alarming pattern emerging after the. earthquake dust settles. Children in. Sichuan were becoming gravely ill. Melamine looks like cocaine and just. like cocaine, if you snort a lot of it, it's going to kill you.

You can buy a pound of the white, odorless powder on Amazon for $50, but. I'm not sure why you would really need. it. Melamine is a raw industrial. compound. It's a really important. substance that we're we're pretty much. surrounded by this everywhere in our. day-to-day lives. It's in everything. Plastic food containers, cooking. utensils, paper chopsticks. Melamine is. everywhere. It's even used for laminate. floors and whiteboard coatings and it is. totally safe. If you have a melamine. plate, it's perfectly safe to eat off of.

that plate or a plastic food container. with melamine. They're all safe unless. you heat it up. Heat brings out the melamine compounds. and then it just leaches into your food. That's why a lot of melamine plates and. bowls or plastic products with melamine, it says, "Do not microwave. Not. microwave safe." It's not just because. it's going to melt in the microwave, it's because you will be unknowingly. eating melamine with your pasta for. dinner. It's odorless, it's tasteless. You. wouldn't even really know. You wouldn't. even taste it. Now, how much melamine.

would come out of microwaving your plate. once? I'm not sure, but a high levels of. ingested melamine are super dangerous. Symptoms include blood in the urine, inability to urinate completely for days. at a time. It's not like you lose the. feeling that you have to go pee. You. feel like your bladder's about to burst, but you cannot urinate. It will not come. out no matter how much you push. It's. stuck in there. Kidney infections and it. could, through all these complications, ultimately lead to death. You could die.

by melamine poisoning. And after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, children in that region and all over. China, they started experiencing those. types of symptoms. There were. speculations that melamine was heated. during the earthquake, that maybe from. all the debris in the buildings and all. the buildings that crumbled because. melamine is also used in concrete. It's. maybe being leached into the water. supply. Maybe it's tainting the water. supply. Maybe it's tainting the air. Maybe it's up in the air. It's hot. May, Sichuan, it's heat. Everything's getting.

steamed. It's in the air and then all. the children are breathing in the. melamine dust and maybe they're a bit. more sensitive than adults. I mean, what else could explain the. sudden strange symptoms in the children. after the earthquake? A few months later, a man by the name of. Mr. Wang posted on an internet forum. Now, this is not to be confused by the. vice president of the secret meeting Mr. Wang. This is a regular civilian Mr. Wang. We're just going to call him Wang. Now, the post starts, "Experiencing this. event was like experiencing a long.

night. It's like having a bad dream. It's very difficult to reveal the truth. unless there's a major incident like the. Fuyang big head baby incident.". Everyone's like, "What is this man. talking about?" He continues, "My. 13-year-old daughter has been. complaining about stomach issues, which. would not be the most alarming thing in. the world, right? But one day, she comes. to him and says, 'Dad, I have crystals. in my pee.'". He's like, "What on earth are you. talking about? You have crystals in your. pee? Like what what kind of crystals?".

The next time she used the restroom, she. didn't flush and she went to go get her. dad and she's like, "There's crystals in. my pee again. Come come look." Wang goes. to investigate and sure enough there's. tiny little crystals at the bottom of. the toilet. Little stones. They're just. sitting there. But also, her pee is a very strange. color. It's like a dark murky yellow. color. It's not just a dark yellow, which would indicate that she's. dehydrated, but it's it's murky. Why. does it look like it would almost be. thick?

Wang has no idea what's really going on, but he knows that is not normal. So, he. starts investigating. He even posts on. this forum to ask for help and some. commentators, before reading the whole. thing, they jumped onto the melamine. They're like, "It's got to be melamine. poisoning. That's what it sounds like.". It sounds like it, doesn't it? But Mr. Wang continued. He's like, "I. know it's a little strange, but I do. have a strange habit. My whole family. does. I'll buy a ton of milk powder or. sometimes even baby formula for my. 13-year-old daughter and even my elderly.

parents. Because in his mind, he's. thinking, 'If you're going to get all. your nutrients delivered in a quick easy. fashion that you can keep up with every. single day like a 13-year-old, like an. elderly person.' Like they don't have. patience. They don't have time. I mean, sometimes even the hunger to eat all. that food that gives you all the. nutrients, that's too much. So, he just assumed milk powder or baby. formula would be the healthiest. It's. jam-packed with nutrients for growing. babies. But he noticed there was a direct. correlation between every single time.

his daughter would drink the baby. formula and then she would have these. debilitating stomach cramps and little. pebbles in her urine. She would be. screaming on the toilet because it. started to hurt to urinate. And he said he was just confused because. the only thing that makes sense after. all this investigation that he's been. doing is the baby formula. He even reached out to the company and. asked, "Hey, do you guys have a recall. for this baby formula right now?". They said, "No, but you should send us.

all your product." It was a very. fascinating response. Now, originally. when this gets posted, there were no. responses. Like nobody cared at all. And. the people that did, they actually hated. on him. They said, "Don't be posting. these allegations about such a wonderful. brand unless you know exactly what. you're talking about. It could be a wide. plethora of different things that could. be causing your daughter's pee to have. pebbles in it. It's not the baby formula. brand.". There were people defending this company. and this was probably one of the biggest.

companies in China of all time. Do you know the saying in the business. world? It's called you conquer the three. deer. So, in China, they call it the. three deer. You conquer central China or. a large region of China. Be the biggest. brand there. I mean, that's already tens. of millions of people because China's a. huge huge nation. Then you conquer the. whole country of China. That's over a. billion people. You be the nation's. industry leader. And then the third. deer, the very last one that you have to.

hunt down and conquer, global domination. You conquer the. world. Because if you can conquer China, you can conquer the world. Deer one, conquer the region. Sichuan province. population 83 million people. How do you. win the hearts of 83 million people in. China? You could, I guess, if you sell. baby formula for example or milk powder, you could lower your prices for a while, but that's not winning anybody's love or. loyalty. It's winning their wallets for. the moment. The minute that you raise.

your price to make higher profits, they're going to all leave you. Or. someone new is going to come in and have. even lower prices and they're going to. leave you. You could try and create the most. amazing advertising campaign and sign. someone that's massive from Sichuan, a. huge celebrity. Try to be in their. favors, but that's still not guaranteed. and it's going to be very pricey. I. mean, you're talking tens of millions of. dollars if you're looking at someone. that has that much influence over 83. million people. Chairwoman Tian, one of the biggest.

executives in the dairy world, decided. to wait for the perfect opportunity to. strike. Instead of trying to force a. whole region of China to love her, she would wait until they needed her. In. 2008, the Sichuan region of China was. hit with one of the deadliest. earthquakes in human history, like we. were just talking about. Out of the. 90,000 dead, at least 5,300 of them were. students in school. Another 375,000. civilians were injured. I mean, it was. the 14th deadliest earthquake in.

recorded global history. Chairwoman Tian knew that right now is. the time to win hearts. Right now is the. time to win customer loyalty. So, she. very publicly donates $2 million worth. of baby formula to the Sichuan relief. fund during the earthquake. How do you not fall in love with a. company like that? They stepped up when. Sichuan needed them. They're not even. from that region. So, with that, they conquered Sichuan. They conquered the first deer.

So, they move on to deer number two. Space milk. You conquer the nation. Population 1.4 billion people. Astronauts in China are the pride and. joy of the nation. Chairwoman Tian knows. this. So, she lands a partnership with. the NASA of China so that when. astronauts go to space, it would be her. powdered milk that they take with them. Her brand would be synonymous with space. milk. If it's good enough for the. astronauts who are the pride and joy of. the nation, it's good enough for the. average consumer. You're not the one. going to space. You don't need all these.

nutrients. But if it's enough for the. astronauts to be out there with no no. fresh vegetables, no fresh milk and. they're drinking this and they're. staying healthy in space, through space, Chairwoman Tian won the. nation, which leaves just one deer left. Deer number three, the 2008 Beijing. Olympics, global domination, population. 7.8 billion. You win the Olympics, you win the world. I mean, not just in terms of gold. medals, but if you land a sponsorship. role at the Olympics, your brand is.

going to be seen by the entire world. But you could also take it a step. further. You could also sponsor the. event, but also supply all of the. Olympians with your product. Not just. from your home country, not just the. Chinese Olympians, but every other. Olympian from every other country. visiting to compete. You are as close to. world domination as it gets. Chairwoman Tian secured a deal to be the. supplier of milk for the 2008 Beijing.

Olympics. She would host marketing. campaigns. The Beijing Olympics were. going to be held on August 8th, 2008. 888. I didn't even know that was the number. 888. That's. It's the luckiest Chinese number. The. luckiest day, she would argue. And if. you gave birth on that date, she would. give you free baby formula. Just one box. Really? Yeah, but people wanted to do. it. An earthquake, space, the Olympics. That. is how Chairwoman Tian would become the.

queen of the dairy industry in China and. take over the world. Wen Huatian was not always the queen of. the cows. That's what she was after the Olympics, but not really, okay? So, before she was. one of the most powerful female. executives in the business world in all. of China, she was just a vet on a small. dairy farm. After graduating vet school, she gets a job at the Baijiao Happiness. Dairy Cooperative, which at the time was. basically like a mom and pop farm. I. mean, you had maybe like two, three.

founders of the cooperative and then you. had 32 cows and 170 goats. You got more. cows than you have employees. Tian was in charge of taking care of the. cows and the goats. And as she's caring. for the cows, she's listening in on the. founders talking about their problems in. the business and she realizes that this. whole dairy industry in China is clearly. not doing well and she's got the. solution. The current method that she's witnessing. is milk farmer from a small rural region. saves up money, buys a cow, then goes to.

source a healthy cow, purchases the cow, milks the cow, sells the milk to a big. dairy company to do whatever they please. with that milk. Bottle it up, turn it. into yogurt, milk candies, who cares, right? Technically, it makes the most. sense. One business is the supplier, the. other business is buying. But the demand. from big companies to purchase milk is. high and the rural farmers' investment. capital is low. Meaning even if the. rural farmers have the space and the. time to have 10 times more cows on their. farm to supply 10 times more milk and.

10x their revenue, they don't have the money to purchase 10. times more cows. But the dairy companies do. I mean, all. they got is money. So, Tian decided she. was going to raise capital. She was. going to purchase cows for farmers and. tell them to pay her in milk. The cows. aren't free. The farmers will have to. milk them and send them over and milk. will be the payment. So, let's say per. cow, you ask for I don't know. This is a. completely arbitrary made-up number. because I don't know the market value of. cows, but one cow, let's say is 10.

gallons of raw milk. Once the farmer. gives the company 10 gallons of raw. milk, that debt is paid and that cow is. theirs. Meaning any more milk after that. will be paid by the dairy company. That's really smart. Yeah, it's technically a win-win on both. sides. Because prior to this, dairy companies. would spend millions, if not tens, hundreds of millions a year maintaining. their own pastures and milking. facilities and hiring their own. employees to go to these dairy farms.

Like they were in charge of admin, HR, everything. But now they're like, why. don't we just buy a bunch of cows for. the rural farmers and then just take. their milk? Mhm. They get a ton of milk. in return and farmers don't have to save. up every single penny and go into debt. trying to scale their farm and purchase. more cows. Now, the small farmers, they. also don't have the fear of going into. competition against the big. corporations. They feel like they're. part of the big game. It's very low risk. on both sides or at least that was the. initial thought.

So, Tian ends up taking over the. Happiness Dairy Cooperative and rebrands. it and appoints herself as CEO. She is. the one who will single-handedly push. this company to become the nation's. largest baby formula producer. She. implements her cow loaning system. Instead of like a house mortgage, you. get a cow mortgage that you pay off in. milk. She takes this company from being just a. regular dairy farm to being on the Wall. Street of China, Beijing Financial. Street. Why sit there and milk cows when.

you can pay everybody else to do it and. make billions? I would say that I have pretty medium. skin when it comes to other people's. opinions, but one thing that will keep. me up at night is grammar. But. specifically just on emails. Grammar in. real life, I'm not such a stickler. about, but if you correct my grammar via. email, I will probably lose sleep over. it. A few years ago, I actually avoided. responding to emails because it gave me. just so much to think about. It would. take me like 30 minutes to draft a.

single email because I wanted to make. sure that I don't come across. unprofessional. But I've been using. Grammarly for years and it just makes my. life so much easier. Grammarly is free. to use and it can help with just about. anything. From corporate emails to. school essays. It'll do spell check for. you obviously, but it also grades your. text on correctness, clarity and even. engagement. And it'll give you. suggestions on how to improve your text. Grammarly has this really cool advanced. AI feature that makes it so that the. text comes out exactly the way I want it. to sound with just a few clicks. I can.

choose from different formality and tone. options. So, for emails, I usually do. formal, confident and direct, but you. can also add your profession and even. which English dialect you speak. So, your text really comes out true to your. voice. It is such a game changer. And. the best part about Grammarly is just. how much time it saves me. I went from. literally taking hours to respond to. emails to just minutes thanks to. Grammarly. And Grammarly's AI feature. really makes it easy to respond to. difficult work conversations. I even.

tell my researchers to use Grammarly. because it just makes writing more. efficient and more impactful. Plus, it's. free. And the reason that I trust. Grammarly is because data privacy and. security are their top priority. Grammarly is the gold standard of. responsible AI with 14 years of. experience and just about every IT. certification under the sun. So, make a. bigger impact at work with Grammarly. Sign up and download for free at. grammarly.com/podcast. That's g r a m m a r l y.com/podcast. Easier said done.

By 2006, she's created a massive. corporation with hundreds of employees, if not thousands. They had shareholders. They partnered with New Zealand's. Fonterra Dairy Cooperative, which is the. world's fourth largest dairy company. And they became known as the king of the. cows in China. This is a name that. everyone knows. The ads on TV is. ingrained in your memory. They became,

yeah, one of the most famous household. brands in the nation to the point where. their trademarked name became synonymous. with baby formula. So, some brands have. so much power to their brand name that. they can almost replace the actual word. for the product that they sell. For. example, Band-Aid. The word for the. actual product they sell is a band-aid. Ah. Band-Aid is a company name. It's. trademarked. Or Kleenex is a trademarked. name. The word for the product is. tissue. Or Chapstick, the word for the.

product is lip balm. So, Tian took this. company from being 32 cows and over 100. goats to monopolizing the powdered milk. industry. And by 2007, the company was. doing 1.4 billion dollars in revenue. And she renamed it to help with the. rebrand. It went from being the. Happiness Cooperative. to Sanlu, which translates to. three deers. Three deers. Conquering the three deers was part of.

her big plan. That's so dark. It's When. you hear three deers, you don't think of. conquering three deers. You think of. like. Yeah, hunting, right. You you think of. like three running deers. Yeah, you think of like at the spring. and they're drinking water, but no, she. wants to conquer the three deers, global. domination, basically. That's what she said. Like I want to. conquer three deers. That's what the. name means. That's crazy. Wow. And it's. just inevitable that a few cows and a. few humans, I mean, they're going to get.

hurt along the way when you're. conquering three deers. When you're. going for global domination, sometimes a cow's going to get hurt. And the dairy industry in China at the. time was a bit shady and it I think even. in the US, even now, it's a bit shady. At this point in China, it was an. unregulated time. The biggest problems. that the dairy industry was facing were. chemicals and additives being added to. the milk to increase profits and fake. milk being sold on the markets. Fake. milk, not like oat milk, almond milk,

milk replacements, fake milk. There was a huge scandal with the baby. formula company in China called Shien, not to be confused with the clothing. company Shein. And they touted. themselves as the superior baby formula. brand that was entirely made overseas in. the United States. They stated because. all their products were imported and. manufactured in the US, then exported. into China. They're going to be a bit. pricier than the other domestic brands. It's like when you get French clothing. imported into the US.

But the quality, I mean, that's. something that you're going to feel. If. not now, then you're going to feel it. later when your kid gets into the top. schools in China. So, after some investigation, it was. exposed that Shien was never a US-based. company. They didn't have a facility in. the US or even an office. They never. sold dairy products in the US. The. company had zero affiliations to the. United States of America. They were. never registered with the FDA, which you. absolutely must be in order to sell baby. formula. The company address was some.

abandoned garage in the United States. It was never imported milk. Everything. that Shien sold was manufactured in. China, but marketed and lied as fake. milk from the US. It was a complete and utter lie to. charge Chinese consumers even more. The. ones who could afford Shien bought. Shien. The ones who couldn't afford. Shien, they ate less, spent less so that. they could buy Shien. Or. they bought the next best thing,

Sanlu, which was half the price. Do you know how baby formula is made? They're made in these um giant steel. vats. They're these giant I don't want. to call them bowls. They have tiny. little holes at the top like a submarine. and you stick mixers in. But the whole. thing is just churning and mixing and. it's this encased giant steel tube, steel vat. They look like vans. That's. how large they are. And raw materials. like milk, water, filtered water, added.

nutrients, they all get mixed into this. vat in liquid form to create a liquid. blend. And then it's typically heat. treated to kill all harmful bacteria. Then it's cooled down, held in secure. temperature cooled tanks. I mean, these. tanks are huge. You could swim in them, which you should never do, but you. could. Now, testing is typically done at. this stage to make sure that the batch. meets the specified nutrition levels. And once it passes, the liquid is heat. treated once more and then it's. transferred into this giant drying. machine where it's turned into powder.

Mhm. So, it's like the Okay, that's. interesting. I didn't know it was like. kind of a dehydration process and. And then you just add water and. rehydrate it. Usually after it's dried, there's another testing process where. the batch undergoes microbiological. analysis and it's just it's not an easy. process to make baby formula. Sanlu used. this method to feed millions of babies. every day all over China. They handle. the production of the baby formula, but.

they need to purchase all the raw. ingredients through their suppliers. So, they gave all these farmers all the cows. and now they're like, "Hey, we need our. milk, so bring us the milk." Think of. them as like the chefs in the kitchen, but they still need to buy the supplies. Great. That's how it usually works. everywhere. So, where does it go wrong? The suppliers start ripping off Sanlu. That's where it goes wrong. Some farmers. realized, "Look at how much Sanlu is. making in the market." They wanted a. larger cut of that. For Sanlu, they're.

getting better profit margins, the. farmers should get better profit. margins, too. Since without the raw. milk, baby formula would be impossible. for Sanlu to even create. So, farmers, they start mixing in water with their. milk to make it seem like there was more. milk by the volume so that they could. get paid more. Sanlu catches on. They start measuring. the milk by its protein content rather. than its liquid volume to pay the. farmers because water has no protein. A. big part of baby formula is the protein.

level. Protein is critical for infant. survival, growth, and development and. milk is packed with protein. Now, the farmers thought, "If we water. down the milk too much, then the protein. levels decrease because there's no. protein in water, then Sanlu will just. pay us for the real milk that we bring. in. So, that's pointless. Unless. unless we find another loophole.". The way Sanlu would test for protein in. the milk would be to test for nitrogen. levels in the milk. Nitrogen is a. fundamental component of the building. blocks of protein. So, testing for that.

is cheaper and simpler than like I think. it's most people just test for nitrogen. everywhere across the board for most. food companies. So, in conclusion, if. the milk has a high nitrogen content, Sanlu believes the milk has a high. protein content and pays the farmers. more for the milk. So, all they have to. do is then take the water down milk and. the farmers are like, "We got to inject. something with nitrogen in it.". Cuz that's what they're testing for. To. bring up the protein levels since the. water brought it down, so to speak.

So, what's something that's cheaper than. milk that's got high nitrogen content? Some chemicals. Melamine. Industrial chemical melamine. Not only. is it super cheap, it's cheaper than. milk and it's got incredibly high levels. of nitrogen. Melamine is 66% nitrogen. So, adding it to the milk products helps. it give a false result of high protein. It's also odorless, dissolves into. liquid very easily, and it's uh white. color. It looks like baby formula. It.

looks like. Like whoever came up with that is is. dead. Is dead? Well, sentenced to death, one of them. What a crazy, crazy, crazy. like let me just throw something in baby. powders. Like how could somebody come up. with that? So, farmers, they start. lacing their milk with melamine and then. shipping it over to Sanlu instead of. bringing in, let's say, five buckets of. fresh clean milk and getting paid for. five buckets, they could now bring in 10. buckets of water down milk, that's still.

five buckets of milk, but add five. buckets of water, inject some nitrogen. into it, and get paid for 10 buckets. when all they really had is five buckets. of milk. Now, the question is, did the executives. at Sanlu know this? I mean, I guess you. could argue that for a while, perhaps. not, maybe. You could argue that if you. wanted, I guess because Sanlu themselves. would argue that the Chinese government. did not at the time require food to be. tested for melamine, you could argue.

that they didn't know. That Sanlu's baby. formula products passed the regulations. and the quality test. One of the top. executives bragged to the public. nonstop, this is about a year before. everything implodes, that they are the. only company that has over 1,100 steps. to check the quality of the baby. formula. Their tagline was, "1,100. rounds of quality test, care for the. baby's health, worthy of mother's. trust.". The vice president would always say in. interviews, "The quality of our baby.

formula is what keeps babies alive and. it keeps Sanlu alive. It is our. bloodline.". CCTV, which is China Central Television, the state-run news network, had a. segment where they investigated this.

1,100 steps claim. They sent reporters. out to Sanlu's farms to see what was. going on at the first link of the food. chain. So, obviously, if you go to HQ, you've got a bunch of corporate people. in suits that are like, "Of course we. have 1,100 steps. Look at our very real. processing plant that's just here for. aesthetics." So, they're like, "We got. to start at the first link of the food. chain. We got to go to the farms and we. got to check out these cows. See if they. really do have good quality control.". Each person stepping into that milk.

facility, the cow farms, they had to. stand in UV light for 5 minutes to get. disinfected. Their cars were disinfected. in the parking lot with UV lights. They. went to go see the cows themselves and. the cows looked happy. Each cow had a. yellow tag on their ear and the Sanlu. employees stated, "Oh yeah, I know. everything about each cow's background. I know who their family members are, you. know, cuz we're trying to keep cow. incest at a minimum here.". Each employee of Sanlu on the farm had a. health tag to ensure that nobody came to. work sick. I mean, this seems like the. type of company that you would want to.

buy baby formula from, right? So, where does it all go wrong? How long. does it take to take down a. billion-dollar company? 100 days. Day one, Dr. Zhang is sitting in his. office at the hospital. He's staring at. his patient list and none of this is. making sense. I mean, the past 10 days. alone, he's treated countless kids with. the same strange problem. Every new. patient room he enters, first of all, he. doesn't even work in the pediatrics.

department, so why are there so many. children in the emergency room? It's. looking like the PICU, it doesn't make. sense. Every time he entered a new. patient room, it'd be the same thing. A. mother holding a swollen baby about 6 to. 11 months old. The baby's belly is rock. hard and it looked as if the infant had. swallowed a full-size watermelon. The. infant looked pregnant. Their heads were. swelling. It's described as a slight. ballooning of the foreheads. Just. something wasn't right. The moms would. cry out, "Please, you have to help me. He hasn't peed in 10 days and I don't.

know what to do.". In days? What What do you mean he hasn't. peed in days? Yeah, he hasn't peed in days. When was. the last time they peed? Maybe a day or. two ago. Maybe like 5 days ago, honestly, but there was red blood in the. urine and that's why we rushed over. Dr. Zhang tries not to show his panic, but this is very alarming. This is very. deadly. If these babies are unable to. pee, their bladder could rupture inside. of their bodies and that doesn't sound. too dangerous to some people, but it's.

deadly. That's why they tell you to pee. before you start driving because if you. get into a traumatic car accident with a. full bladder and in that accident your. bladder ruptures, the urine leaks into. your insides, that's all toxic waste. You're going to die very quickly of an. infection. But typically, when you are a baby, one. of the biggest things is you just pee. You don't have the ability to hold your. urine. So, the fact that these children. are unable to pee to the point that it's. risking their lives to them almost. dying, I mean, it was terrifying. So,

Dr. Zhang is on high alert. One swollen. baby, that's a strange case. Two swollen. babies, he's getting concerned. By the. fourth swollen baby that day, Dr. Zhang. is starting to feel very unsettled. He's. sitting there in his office, lunch. untouched. In his 23 years of being a. doctor, he had never seen so many. children at risk of dying from. kidney stones. That's what was causing this, kidney. stones. Have you ever seen one of those. cold-press juicers? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, okay. So, not a blender that you. just stick fruit and vegetables into and. then you mix them up together and like a. blade crushes them up. It's more of a. mechanism that you put the vegetables. through. It's like a hydraulic press and. it's going to separate all the liquid. out and the rest of the stuff. So, you. get the skin, the peel, the pulp, all. separated to one container and then the. pure juice on the other side. Mhm. That's how the kidneys work. So, your blood runs through the kidneys, they take out any particles, any toxins,

and then they send it into the bladder. to be peed out and then now the clean. blood circulates back into your body. Ah, that makes sense. I see. Your kidneys are a cold-press juicer. Like a little filter. Yes. Maybe the. easier comparison would be that your. body is a city and the kidneys are like. the water filtration facility. It. filters all the bad stuff out of the. blood and then it sends it to the. bladder, which is storaging the waste. water until it's peed out. But sometimes.

the water treatment plant starts having. difficulties filtering everything out. because maybe there's too much calcium. or minerals that are sticking together. and then hardening and then not enough. water, so you get these little clumps, stones as they call them. They get stuck. in your urinary tract and once you have. one, it's like a snowball. More minerals. are going to come rolling down and then. start sticking to it and it's just going. to get bigger and bigger and bigger. And. kidney stones are very, very painful, right? Yes. Okay, so the word stone. almost has this implication that it's.

like a smooth stone. They're more jagged. crystals. So, they can actually cut up. the inside of your urinary tract as. you're trying to pee it out. That's the. best case scenario is peeing it out. The. worst case Well, the best case scenario. is that you don't get them. The second. best case scenario is that you get small. ones and then you pee it out, but it's. still very, very painful. But once the. stones are too large to be able to pass. on without causing bleeding or kidney. damage or won't, for whatever reason, pass through your urine,

you have to get them removed. It's not really something that you can. stall. It's cuz if you don't remove the. kidney stones quickly, you're going to. notice that you can't pee at all. It's. blocking your urine stream. So, you're. you're going to want to pee. It's not. that you suddenly lose the want, the. yearning to pee. You're going to want to. pee, it's just going to be painful. It's. going to sting, nothing's going to come. out, you feel like you're going to. explode because the kidney stones are. blocking the flow of urine. It's not only described as being such a. unique type of pain that it's almost.

borderline sadistic, they say. It's also. very dangerous to have kidney stones. because if your kidney stones are. blocking your flow of urine, your. bladder could explode. Typically, there's three ways to do it. One, medications or shockwave therapy. This is wild. Doctors can use shockwaves. or like strong vibrations and sound. waves to break down your kidney stones. inside of your body. This is. non-invasive, typically, and they will. break into smaller pieces and then pass.

through into your urine. Or the second way is that the doctor. will send cameras into your urethra. So, like through your pee hole, into the. bladder and to stones and once they. locate it, they will usually have lasers. attached to these small tubes and. they'll laser the kidney stone to break. it up. Wow. And then hopefully, you'll. pee it out. You have to be under general anesthesia. for this type of process because, I. mean, obviously, it's going up your. urethra and it's going to take a few.

hours. Or the third method, this is probably. the most invasive, they have to cut a. small hole into your back cuz that's. where your kidneys are. But, they're. closer to your back. And they will send. a thin flexible tube to break into your. kidney and break up and remove the. stone. Wow. It is the most invasive, but it is. the most effective when it comes to. removing a very large stubborn kidney. stone. And with this type of procedure, you typically cannot even go home the. same day. You're going to have to be.

under general anesthesia for quite a bit. of time. Now, I know one of the first things that I do. when I hear about these types of medical. situations, I'm like, "Oh, okay, I have. it for sure, right?" But, no. They say you will know if you have. kidney stones. Like, it's not something. you're like, "Do I have kidney stones or. not?" You will know. People who have had. kidney stones, they stated it hurts more. than giving birth. One woman on Reddit. said, "I'd rather give birth to a. hundred more kids than have another. singular kidney stone ever again in my.

life.". One person stated it's a unique type of. pain. They stated they never even. noticed. You don't even know where your. kidneys are. You don't feel your. kidneys, you never think about your. kidneys. But, then when you get a kidney. stone, you will never forget where your. kidneys are. They said it felt like. someone was stabbing you in the kidney. with a red hot knife and then twisting. it around back and forth, back and. forth. Someone even touching your back makes. you want to throw up and gag.

Another person stated, "I couldn't move. because of the pain. I thought it was. gas, but then when I went to the toilet, I literally lunged forward on the. toilet. I was in so much pain I could. not move, I could not stand up, I could. not stop shaking from the pain. I was as. white as a sheet. I started throwing up. and sweating like I was running a. marathon. They're trying to pass a. kidney stone through their urine." Oh my. goodness. The pain was so severe I. couldn't even make a noise. I just had. silent tears running down my cheeks. Another person just simply put it, "I.

had two kidney stones. I've also been. ejected from a moving vehicle going 75. miles per hour. I've been shot at before. and I've experienced severe drug. withdrawals. I would take any of the. others again over any other kidney stone. ever. I'm not kidding. Your entire groin. hurts like hell and when it finally. passes out in the urine, it will tear. the lining of the urethra. The pain is a. nine out of 10 on the pain scale and you. cannot escape it. It is absolutely.

relentless.". Now, it is painful, but not the most. fatal condition known to mankind, especially if you're an adult. For. children, though, kidney stones are. incredibly dangerous, if not fatal. Without even touching on the enormous. pain aspect that the kids are going to. feel, surgically removing a kidney stone. from a child is very difficult to do. Their body parts are incredibly tiny to. navigate through and it's not ideal to. have younger children under general. anesthesia for longer than 3 hours at a.

time. It can actually hurt brain. development. But, if you don't remove. these kidney stones, the kidney stones. are blocking the urine and you could, at. the very least, develop a lot of. different conditions. You could have the. kidneys become enlarged and swollen from. the build-up of urine, which could. ultimately lead to the loss of kidney. function or death. And there's still. that high risk of that bladder rupturing. inside of the body. And even if these. kids somehow survive all of that, there. is a chance that their kidneys could. still be so damaged that they will not.

be functional. And they have to have kidney dialysis. If your kidneys don't work, do you know. what you have to do? Add a filter or something? You have to. go to the hospital three times a week, 4. hours at a time and be hooked up to a. machine where they circulate your blood. They take your blood out of your body, it runs it through the machine and this. machine acts like your kidney and cleans. your blood and then you have another. needle sending that blood straight back. into your body.

Wow. So, it's very, very, very crucial. Yes. You have to do this three times a. week, typically 4-hour sessions and you. have to do this until you can. gain function of your kidneys again or. get a kidney transplant. And if you can't do either of those. things, you have to do this three times. a week for the rest of your life or you. will die. So, it's obviously a big deal and it's. not a common thing to happen. So, Dr. Zeng needs to know what the hell is. going on right now. Why are all these. kids getting kidney stones to the point.

that it could kill them? Usually, children do not get kidney stones. Adults get them for poor diet and all. these other unhealthy lifestyle choices. that we're making. But, when you're a. child, it's very difficult, especially. the types of kids that Dr. Zeng was. saying, 6 months old, 11 months old. They're not even toddlers that could eat. like very salty foods and develop kidney. stones. What what could they possibly be eating? It's not genetic, it's not environmental. or at least not in a vague sense. So, it's not just happening in one town. I.

mean, a lot of these families traveled. to get to this hospital. It's got to be. something else. So, he's running through. their routines over and over trying to. find something similar. He sat the. parents one by one down and he's in. front of one of them right now and he's. like, "Okay, again, start from the top. List everything you do, everywhere you. go, what are you wearing, who do you. see, everything. What laundry detergent. do you use?" Dr. Zeng is starting to. feel hopeless. I mean, this is another. patient who has nothing in common with. the other ones. And the mom is saying, "Well, every.

morning I go to work, so it's not easy. for me, but I make sure." And Dr. Zeng. is staring at the mom. What? She's leaning over the hospital bed. feeding her tiny little baby hooked up. to all of these machines a little baby. bottle. Sorry, she needs to eat. I mean, it's. she's looking frail and it's time. What baby formula do you use? He thought of all the patient records, they all had something in common. Now. that he thinks about it, they all drank. And the mom is like, "Oh, yeah. I save.

up so that I can buy the best formula on. the market." San Lu. If you commit libel and slander against. a billion dollar company that has access. to some of the most top attorneys in the. nation, you could be looking at years of. a lengthy court battle that's. purposefully dragged out so that you. lose everything you have to fund this. losing fight. Because sometimes, lawsuits are about who dries out first, who runs out of cash first. And if you're someone with a river. flowing through your house with an. endless stream of water and you're going.

up against someone who's got a tiny. glass filled with a few sips, who's. going to win the battle? But, losing everything to your name is. not even the worst case scenario. In. China, defamation can land you in prison. for up to 3 years. And with Dr. Zeng's. case, interestingly enough, he wasn't. just risking being sued for libel by San. Lu, meaning San Lu is could sue him for. spreading false news or lies about him. just because he thinks all of his. patients' parents feed them San Lu. That's not enough.

Dr. Zeng could be sued for spreading. false information that leads to a. national food emergency. If he spreads a. rumor that San Lu is contaminated and is. causing kids to have kidney stones and. it turns out to be false, but parents. don't believe it because they're in. full-on panic mode, there's a baby. formula crisis, he could be held responsible for that. Following your dreams is easier said. than done, especially in this economy. It's estimated that over 90% of startups.

fail and that is a really daunting fact. That's why it's really important to have. the proper support system to be able to. follow your dreams. And for me, one of. those things was Shopify. I know it. sounds random, but Shopify is the global. commerce platform that helps you sell at. every stage of your business. From the. launch your online shop stage to the. first real life store stage, all the way. up to did we just hit a million orders. stage, Shopify's there to help you grow. What I love about Shopify is that they. can take your business to the next.

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write emails and generate those instant. FAQ questions, which by the way, Shopify. magic is free for every Shopify user. And I love that it solves so many. problems that business owners come. across, which is time. And I'll never. forget that someone said to me, they. said, "Focus all your time on the. product and the marketing will be. through how great your product is. It'll. speak for itself." Unfortunately, it's. just not that feasible. You still have. to have a FAQ section and emails and. that's where Shopify magic is. life-changing. And Shopify also helps.

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now to grow your business, no matter. what stage you're in. shopify.com/rotten. Additionally, in China, government. positions are the most coveted positions. in the workforce. They're called iron. bowl jobs, meaning that your bowl that. you eat out of is never going to break. You're always going to have a meal. It's. an iron bowl. So, working for a big. company like Google or like Alibaba, for. example, it's a prestigious job, but. your bowl is not iron. It might be the.

most fancy, high-quality crystal bowl. that like sparkles in the light when you. eat near the window, and people are. looking at you very jealous. Like, "Wow, a crystal bowl, right?" But you could. still get fired. There could still be. layoffs. The company could go under. There could be a number of reasons why. you no longer work for them, but an iron. bowl is an iron bowl. Yeah, it's job. security. Yeah. Ultimate. Unless you break the law. or something, right? Otherwise, your. iron bowl is going to be filled with.

food. Now, in China, government. positions are so coveted that when. you're applying for a position, you not. only have to have the highest. qualifications possible, but you also. have to have the perfect background. Not. only can you not have a criminal. history, but neither can your parents or. even your partner. If Dr. Zhang were to be arrested for. libel and for causing a national food. crisis, his children would never even. have a shot at the best positions in the. country. They could not apply for. government positions, no matter how hard. they work.

Dr. Zhang is thinking about going up. against a giant cow, and he's just a. tiny little ant that's going to get. stepped on. So, Dr. Zhang's wife is. pleading with him, like, "What do you. mean you're going to tell people it's. Sanlu, and they need to be careful about. Sanlu? I don't think so. You're not. doing that. You can't do that. You're. going to get in trouble. Do you not. understand? You're going to You're not. going to be a doctor anymore.". Dr. Zhang was quiet for a moment. He thought about all the patients that. he had that day. I mean, some kids had. walked days just to get to this.

hospital. Walked days with their parents. They. couldn't afford bus tickets. Their. parents were desperate. They were. migrant workers. They have nothing to. their name. Every day they don't work, they're falling deeper into debt. They. have no safety net to fall back on. They're willing to risk it all, walk. days to a bigger hospital to try and see. a urologist, a specialist. And even if a. specialist is willing to work on their. child, they have no idea how they're. going to afford it all. These are the types of people he's. seeing. His patients, the parents,

they're like skin thin. Why? Because they're spending all their. money on baby formula. And those are just the patients Dr. Zhang is seeing. What about the rest of. the kids in the nation? He doesn't know. what's going on anywhere else. Dr. Zhang just looks at his wife and. said, "If I lose my job, I'll just be a. street vendor. Maybe I can stand in front of the. hospital and spread some love to the. people in need. Maybe I can sell flowers for super.

cheap.". Dr. Zhang reported it to the higher-ups. in the hospital, and eventually to the. Center of Disease Control, as well as. the National Ministry of Health. Now, an. article was released soon after about a. contaminated baby formula that was on. the shelves that was causing kids to. turn to stone. They would call them. stone babies because of the kidney. stones that they were forming. A lot of. experts felt like this was going to be. worse than the 2004 big head baby. scandal. So, just to give you extra context from. the beginning of this episode, the 2004.

{quote} big head baby scandal took place. in the city of Fuyang. Parents were. feeding their children milk formula that. had 1 to 6% of the essential vitamins, minerals, and proteins for a growing. baby's needs. The formula was later. dubbed {quote} empty shell baby formula. Oh, it only have 1 to 6% of intended. nutrient. Yeah, which doesn't sound that bad, right? It's honestly. That sounds bad. It's horrendous. Let me tell you why, right? Because typically, the first few. months of a baby's life, about 6 months,

the entire nutrition consumption is. through either breast milk or baby. formula. They don't even drink water. Yeah, they don't even drink water until. they're like, I don't know, 9 months old. because they don't want babies to get. full off of water, which does not have. the nutrients that they need to grow, and they will consume less breast milk. or formula, which means they're going to. risk not having enough nutrients. Large. amounts of water can also affect the. concentration of certain nutrients in. the baby's blood, which can also be very.

dangerous if not fatal. And technically, there is water in the baby formula and. the milk, so it's not like they're not. getting any water. But the idea that. baby formula that was sold in that city. would only contain 1 to 6% of the baby's. nutritional needs is beyond alarming. The lack of nutrition caused. irreversible damage. The babies that. were on that specific formula were just. consuming cheap fillers like starch and. sucrose with a dash of milk flavoring. and like 1% of their daily needs.

They were not growing the way that they. were supposed to, and it resulted in a. condition that enlarged the head. The. heads of babies became swollen, and it. started the {quote} big head baby. scandal. The government investigated milk. formulas that were being sold and found. that 45 brands were making milk formula. that did not meet standards of quality. 20 of them were straight-up producing. baby formula without a valid license, and three of them were dangerous. knockoffs of existing brands. They were. counterfeit baby formula being sold in.

stores, posing as real companies that do quality. control when they do not. 229 babies were impacted, and 12 babies. died in the Fuyang city in 2004 from. this situation. And here's another one. Just 4 years. later, and this article is basically. stating, "We think this one's going to. be worse." Now, everyone wants to know, "What freaking formula is it? Like, how. do we avoid it if we don't know?" It. felt like someone was gatekeeping this. information. So, this article comes out.

They don't name the brand. Mhm. Parents. start freaking out. There were a lot of. reports of parents just taking their. babies off of baby formula and trying to. feed them like egg tarts. Every single baby formula company was. being accused of being one of the ones. that caused kidney stones. People were. scanning through all these websites, company websites, looking at share. prices, overanalyzing everything and. anything that had to do with baby. formula to see if they could figure out. which company is it. And one of the. bigger pieces of the puzzle, initially.

at least, was Wang's thread post. about his daughter's urine being a. strange color, right? So, he even. described the taste of the milk powder. He's like, "No, I had Sanlu. Like, that's the one that I gave my daughter. Remember?" And then he was getting. ripped apart in the comments. They were. like, "Why are you bringing a a. wonderful dairy company into this? This. is like the nation's treasure. This is. the nation's brand, and you're just. You're irresponsible. You probably don't. know what you're doing." So, that's when.

that post being dug up again. Yes. are like, "Oh, maybe it's Sanlu.". Maybe it's Sanlu because this new. article from mainstream media is getting. a lot of press and attention, and moms. are going crazy, and everyone's like, "Which baby formula company is giving. kids kidney stones?" So, they dig up. this post again, and it's described. He. described the milk powder as being. weird. It kind of smelled aromatic, like. milk, but it it wasn't. It was weird. It. tasted very smooth, but you could feel.

the powder residues in your mouth. So, you would see it, and there's no clumps. of powder. It's not like you had needed. to mix it better, but it's almost like. you could feel it swirling, the tiny. little particles. Oh my god. That's what he's saying about Sanlu. And. he thought, "Well, that can't be Sanlu. Sanlu is the nation's brand of baby. formula. They have 1,100 steps for QA. It's got to be a different issue." He. read a few articles about counterfeit. milk, so he thought this is a situation. of counterfeit milk. He reaches out to. Sanlu. Asks, "Do you have a counterfeit issue?".

They go back and forth, and then it's. agreed that Wang would send them opened. bags of Sanlu that he bought, that he. felt were bad. The company receives his package, and. then they ghost him. So, he keeps. reaching out to get an update on this. case, and the company Sanlu just tells. him, "Yeah, those samples are authentic. products, not fakes.". So, Wang is like, "Okay, that's even. more alarming. If it were fakes, I'd be. like, okay, that makes sense. But if. they're authentic, then what's wrong. with the product?" So, he emailed them. back. "Well, then are there quality.

issues with the product? Can I see some. sort of lab report because you must have. run a lab in order to identify that this. is an authentic product." Mhm. "No, no, nothing's wrong. A regional. distributor will be in contact with you. for more information.". Wang's like, "Okay, that's really weird. Why do I need to talk to a regional. distributor?" Well, they talk to him, and they're like, "Hey, so here's what. we're going to do, okay? So, you bought. how many bags?". "Doesn't matter. Every unopened bag that. you bring us, I'm going to give you a. new bag. Okay, it's going to be an.

exchange. Now, every opened bag that you. give us, I'm going to give you two new. bags.". What? Yeah. Wang is like, "What? Why would I. do Like, this whole thing is weird." So, he reaches back out to the company, the. guy that he was originally talking to, and he's like, "Why can't I just know. the results of this test? I don't want. to talk to this regional guy. I don't. know what he's talking about. Just tell. me. I just want to know what the samples. showed because my child ate that milk. powder, had abnormalities in her urine,

and I just feel like I can't live in. peace. What about the other kids who are. drinking the same milk powder? Do they. have weird urine? So, Wang stated that the company rep. just told him, "The lab results reveal. trade secrets, so we can't tell you just. willy-nilly, you know?" And the milk. powder packaging says it's intended for. kids ages 3 to 7. You stated that your. daughter is 13. So, I'm just saying. What? Yeah. What are you saying? Like 13-year-old. can't drink it?

Basically. So, Wang was confused. He left off the. internet post by saying that he's going. to spend He might even mortgage his. house to test this Sanlu powder by. himself. But mysteriously, just 10 days after he. posted that, he would ask the website. moderators to take it back down. He. stated that the milk powder was a. counterfeit, which nobody believed. because in his original post, he talked. about how Sanlu told him it's an. authentic piece. It was later discovered that Wang was. given four boxes of baby formula, about.

$350 in exchange for his post being. taken down and him signing on the dotted. line that he would no longer talk about. this incident in exchange for four boxes. of baby formula. He would also have to forfeit all the. products in question to Sanlu, all of. his unopened Sanlu products. Wang has signed on the dotted line, took. the $350 worth of baby formula, asked to. take down his post, and handed over 13. bags of milk formula.

But he had 15 bags. Two were hidden in his closet for. safekeeping. Woah. September 11th, 2008, an article. was published finally naming Sanlu as. the culprit. Within hours, Sanlu. formally releases a product recall. statement saying that the company's own. inspection found batches of Sanlu baby. formula to be contaminated with. melamine. Day 100, the cow empire comes crumbling. down. The top executives from Sanlu and some.

of the bigger dairy suppliers for Sanlu. were arrested. Chairwoman Tian blamed. the greedy cow farmers for all of this, that all the dairy cow farmers supplied. the milk to Sanlu were illegally adding. melamine to the fresh milk to make more. money, and they're greedy, they're. disgusting, and obviously we didn't know. until it's too late. Technically, the. government does not require that we test. for melamine. It's unfortunate, but we. don't just test for random chemicals. across the board unless it's required of. us. They wish they could have done better. That's all the thing. Sanlu's like, "We.

wish, right? But we did everything. that we're supposed to do. We do what. the competitors do. We wish we could. have done more, but, you know.". But that's not entirely the truth, is. it? During the trial, an Olympic-sized. cover-up was exposed. The company. executives were made aware of a baby. with kidney issues after drinking the. baby formula back in 2007, 10 months. before all of this goes down. The vice. president of the company just waved it. off as an individual case. A problem. with the baby has no correlation with.

Sanlu. That's what he told them. Soon. after, Chairwoman Tian is made aware of. complaints from all over China about. kidney issues and the baby formula. She. sets up a quality investigation team, May 2008. They're screening for things. that could possibly cause urine crystals. and kidney stones. And up until this. point, they do not test for melamine. And up until this point, I do think that. Chairwoman Tian is like trying to do the. right thing to a degree. Or she's just doing the normal thing, like the bare minimum. Yeah. Which is investigating a claim, right? She's doing more than the VP, I guess,

is what I was trying to say. June 2008, the results come back that a non-protein. nitrogen was found in the baby powder. It contained six times more non-protein. nitrogen than similar baby formula. brands, but nobody could tell the. executives what that non-protein. nitrogen was. Everyone was still, quote, in the dark. July 2008, someone on the investigation. team suspected melamine, and they. started testing for that. They sent out. 16 batches to be tested by the local. government's entry and exit inspection. and quarantine bureau. 15 of the 16.

batches came back with large amounts of. melamine present. Even the testing. center was so concerned about how high. the levels were that they called Sanlu. and they were like, "Hey, what were those samples from? Because I. wouldn't even feed that to livestock.". And I know you're like a baby formula. company, so. what's going on? Sanlu stated, "Oh, no, no, no. That's. just like a. We're experimenting with different. formulas. That was like a product in. development. It's not made to the. public. And the We're testing raw.

materials because we were receiving not. great raw materials, so we're testing. these farmers now. We're trying to crack. down on quality.". The center believed Sanlu and did not. raise any alarms. The same day that the. results came back, Chairman Tian held an. emergency board meeting that lasted from. 9:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., and for 7 hours, they came up with a game plan. PR. They reached out and made a PR proposal. to Baidu. Do you know Baidu?

Yeah, the Google of China. Exactly. Sanlu already spends a lot of. money on Baidu for ads. So, they've got. a, I'm sure, a very strong partnership. with Baidu. They come up with a PR. proposal where they want Baidu to bury. any negative websites or search hits for. Sanlu. They also want Baidu to source. negative hits for Sanlu competitors and. algorithmically place them at the top. Yep. Woah.

Baidu rejected, and Sanlu kept going. So, this is all happening like 6 days. before the Olympics began. Their secret. meeting was August 1st. The Olympics, well, the official games start August. 8th. Yeah. Wait, Baidu rejected? Yeah, Baidu. rejected. didn't happen with Baidu. No. Baidu rejected. Now, the government. officials would not reject. So, before. the Olympics, Sanlu reaches out to all. the government officials and is like, "Hey, you need to help us because the. Olympics are coming. We're not just a.

random Chinese brand. Do we need to. remind you we are the milk of the. Olympians. We're space milk. We're. astronaut milk, okay? So, do you want. China to be an embarrassment. to the whole world?". The 2008 Beijing Olympics was actually. one of the most intense Olympics ever. hosted. China felt like they were being. dragged through the mud by Western media. outlets, and every bad thing about their. country, which every country has bad. things, were being blown up, amplified, and they were being ripped to shreds in.

Western media. So, the government is. essentially trying to do. This is like their marketing. This is. like their PR. This is their time to. show the world. So, a lot of Chinese. civilians were really excited about. this. 2008 was a rough year economically. for everyone. Then the Sichuan. earthquake that killed over 87,000. people occurred. That was another. international embarrassment. So, this, if they have a milk scandal right now. during the Olympics, it wasn't going to be good. So, the government agreed.

to hush-hush it until after the. Olympics. It wasn't until 2 weeks after the end of. the Olympics that the first major. newspaper reported Sanlu as the brand. with the melamine in the formula. And that brand was poisoning babies. Now, side note, remember the VP that. jumped out of his window in the. beginning of this case? Well, thankfully, he survived, not that I. think that he had any intention of not. surviving. His apartment was on the. fourth floor. He landed on a car, and. his injuries consisted of a fractured.

ankle. That's it. Just a fractured ankle. But. for some reason, he still showed up to. court on a full stretcher. Yeah. January 22nd, 2009, three Sanlu. executives were sentenced to 5 to 15. years in prison. 15 other Sanlu. executives were sentenced to 2 to 15. years in prison. Chairwoman Tian was. sentenced to life in prison, but she. will likely get out in 2027 on good. behavior. Meanwhile, two dairy farmers that sold. more than 900 tons of tainted milk to.

Sanlu were both given the death. sentence. 900 tons? Yeah. Woah. So, the cows came crumbling down. Unfortunately, Sanlu is not a one-off. situation. After they were exposed. releasing their baby formula with. melamine, the Chinese government started. investigating. They found melamine in. liquid milk, yogurt, White Rabbit milk. candies, frozen desserts, cereal.

products, pastries, cakes, biscuits, protein powders, processed foods. The. government randomly tested 69 batches of. baby formula, like different brands, and. 22 were found to contain high traces of. melamine. I mean, it was so bad that a lot of. countries banned dairy products made in. China from entering their country. Over 22 companies were forced to set up. a victims compensation fund. Collectively, it had $127 million, but. I mean, it wasn't great. Level one was.

if you lost your child completely, and. you would receive $28,000, which is. nothing. Level two is if your child had. severe kidney issues that required. dialysis or surgery, you would get a. wild $4,288. And level three is if you had to be. hospitalized, but did not have invasive. surgery, just utter pain, $282. But the worst part is the minute that. you take even a dollar from the. compensation fund, you are forced in. return to sign a document that states.

that you will never sue the company or. ever ask for another dollar in. compensation ever again. It's a one-time. shut-up deal. And even then, it was so hard to get. money. Like, parents weren't even asking. for a lot. They just wanted their. medical costs covered by the government. or by these companies, whoever, and no. one would give them the money. Doctors. would say, "Well, it's really hard to. say 100% that your problems were caused. by the melamine poisoning when you were. a baby. So, the government is like,

"Well, if you can't prove it 100%, then. you don't get money.". It was ridiculous. More than 100. attorneys stepped forward to volunteer. to represent families in claims against. Sanlu. One parent who lost their child. stated, "Even if they offer me. compensation, I'm not going to accept. it. What do I need the money for if my. son is gone? These people were making a. profit off of letting all of us die.". Selling this baby formula. The worst slap in the face was that. their son wasn't even included in the. official death toll for this case. A lot. of parents pointed the theory that the.

official death toll for the infants that. passed by drinking melamine-laced. formula is inaccurate because the. official death toll given by the. government is six. Six babies. Yeah. Six babies. And there's a lot of parents who are. like, "No, my child died from that and. we're not part of the official death. toll.". Wow. So, a lot of parents think it's. really suspicious that many of the. children died but were not included. There's speculation that the official. death toll was kept down so that. Chairwoman Tian, who is incredibly.

influential and well-connected and has a. lot of ties to the government, would get. life in prison rather than the death. penalty. Many of the victims' parents stated she. should be shot. One parent said, "Even. if she dies 100 times over, it won't. lessen our hate.". And there was a massive ripple effect of. this. Illegal businesses were being set. up where baby formula was being imported. in these mysterious giant shipping. containers. They were imported through. Vietnam and distributed through China.

because there was a sudden demand from. Chinese civilians to purchase foreign. baby formula. Even to this day, I. believe studies show that there is not a. strong sentiment that is favorable for. domestic baby formula brands. Yeah, cuz people just don't trust it. anymore. Like, even today, nobody. Yeah, you don't want to buy like baby. powder made in China, yeah. And it. became a global problem because now all. of a sudden all Chinese moms and dads. are like, "Well, we got to we got to get.

some foreign baby formula." But the. problem is all of these companies that. are in foreign countries, they only make. a certain amount. Like, they don't. expect emergencies like this to happen. So, for example, if one of the biggest. distributors in the US, Abbott, wanted. to suddenly supply that demand, they. might send America into a baby formula. shortage. So, countries started banning. the exporting of baby formula into. China. They didn't necessarily state. that it's because of what's going on in. China, but like people were putting two. and two together. The US randomly made a.

ban, five to 10 cans per person per day. in the store. That's all you can buy. Australia, four cans. UK, two cans. Macau, two. Hong Kong, two. And because. of that, Sanlu will just be a stain on. the industry forever. One citizen. stated, "It only takes one mouse poop to. ruin the whole pot of porridge.". Over 2,000 tons of baby formula were. seized from the Sanlu warehouse, which. is about six Boeing 747 planes worth of. baby formula.

that were all contaminated with. melamine. Yeah. That's how much baby formula that they. took from the warehouse. They recalled. about 9,000 tons of baby formula and one. city decided to go ahead and just dump. five tons of Sanlu baby formula to get. rid of it into the sewers, which I don't know if that's like the. best choice, but it took 30 minutes. to dump it all. And that is how one of the biggest dairy. companies in all of China, the queen of the cows, came crumbling.

down. What are your thoughts? Do you really. know what's in your food? Please be safe. and I will see you guys on Sunday for. the next episode. Bye.