Lactose Intolerant NOT Affected.

From Chase:

After the recent in-class-discussion about China's tainted milk, I was curious to see how it has progressed. It looks like Europe, who receives food products from China, is now concerned due to the fact that products containing milk powder from China have been circulating the Europian super markets. Specifically, chocolates and other sweet, "milky" items are of main concern. However, the European Union is doing its best to intervene by mandating that all products containing greater than 15% milk powder be tested. As of now, the test results are not worrisome. As for the United States, certain consumer groups have called upon the FDA to act quickly to restrict any food imports from China.

The chemical causing this ruckus, Melamine, is an industrial additive used to artifically increase a prodect's protein content. In China, this contaminant has been responsible for sickening and even killing some 50,000 infants and children. However, melamine is NOT a problem in and of itself; the issue lies in the actual amount a person consumes. In China, the troublesome side-effects were found mostly in young children who relied on contaminated milk products as their main source of nutrition- baby formula, etc. On the contrary, since melamine's side-effects are largely based on the consumer's individual weight, the powdered milk products found in Europe and the US are unlikely to be potent and present enough to harm anyone. As for now, it looks like the US can rest a little easier knowing that it does not receive any dairy products from China, and the goods it does receive are likely too unsaturated to harm a human. In fact, China's commerce minister, Bo Xilai, even stated that 99% of its exports to the US passed every test of quality. At least the US can check dairy products off its list of Chinese items to worry about, but what about our toothpaste and petfood?