Toxic Melamine in 8 brands of powdered milk found positive in Bangladesh

BAEC find vindicates DU melamine results
Govt finally discloses to court 7 out of 8 milk powder brands tested positive; govt's role comes under criticism; court ruling today
By Ershad Kamol of “The Daily Star”


The government yesterday disclosed to the High Court (HC) that Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) also had detected high concentration of toxic melamine in seven brands of powdered milk out of the eight tested so far.

The revelation raised questions among a cross-section of the people about the caretaker government's sincerity about ensuring public health as it had sat on the test results for a week instead of letting the worried consumers know about the findings.

The court is scheduled to pronounce a judgment on the melamine issue today.

On November 3 the government declared that melamine had been detected only in three Chinese powdered milk brands Yashili 1, Yashili 2, and Sweet Baby 2 in tests by a Thai and two local laboratories.

But at the time the government already had the BAEC test results in its hands which it decided to keep undisclosed.

The consumer confusion about melamine in powdered milk arose when about a month ago Health and Food Adviser Dr AMM Shawkat Ali opted to downplay a Dhaka University (DU) chemistry department test result that had detected melamine in eight brands of powdered milk including five popular ones.

Instead he and his government trusted the test results of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), and of a private laboratory Plasma Plus, both of which detected melamine in only Yashili 1 while failing to find trace of the substance in the remaining seven brands.

Later the samples of all eight brands were sent to the laboratories of Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), BAEC, and a FAO recognised private laboratory in Thailand for testing.

This time around BAEC detected melamine in seven of the brands while the other two laboratories found contamination only in the Chinese brands.
The government adviser said on November 3 that BAEC and the DU chemistry department are not capable of conducting complicated tests like finding melamine in milk.

He told The Daily Star about the BAEC lab, "It's good for detecting pesticides and radiation levels, but not for detecting melamine in milk," adding that the DU chemistry department also has similar limitations.

Criticising the government's move to keep the BAEC test results hushed for a week, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Chairman Prof Muzaffer Ahmad told The Daily Star yesterday, "It's a violation of the Right to Information Act which the government recently enacted. The persons responsible for hiding the information from the public should be put on trial according to the law."

"The government's role in such a complicated public health issue infers its lack of care for it. In fact, the government was hiding the facts for the welfare of the corrupt business community," he said.

Programme Officer of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Emdad Hossain said the way the government has been dealing with the melamine issue, is in violation of consumers' rights, because the consumers were kept in the dark about the confirmation of existence of a dangerously harmful substance in milk products they feed there children.

"People were in the dark and confused, as the government kept secret the test results. This is a blatant violation of consumers' rights, and very dangerous because of melamine's health implications," Hossain said.

The amounts of melamine detected by BAEC are 175.2 milligram per kilogram (mg/kg) in Yashili-1, 172 mg/kg in Yashili-2, 330.4 mg/kg in Sweet Baby-2, 171.3 mg/kg in Nido Fortified Instant, 478.3 mg/kg in Anlene, 287.4 mg/kg in Diploma, and 7.4 mg/kg in Dano Full Cream Milk.

However, BAEC did not detect any trace of melamine in Red Cow, which was found to be contaminated in the DU test.

Deputy Attorney General Rajik Al Jalil produced all test results to the HC yesterday, after the court had directed the government to do so.

Prof Nilufar Nahar, under whose leadership melamine was detected in the eight brands of powdered milk through a test in the DU chemistry department lab, said, "As a scientist I have a global reputation. The government should know my work before dismissing our department's abilities. I invite them to visit our laboratory and urge them to stop talking nonsense."

"The man who conducted the tests in Plasma Plus and the two others who tested the samples in BCSIR had been researchers under my supervision. I know the mistakes they made in their tests. The government should be ashamed of its blatant kowtowing to the interests of the unscrupulous industry, and for pitting novice chemists against the nation's top scientists."

She also questioned the authenticity of the test results from the Thai laboratory, saying, "It's a FAO recognised private laboratory, not FAO's own lab, moreover the report is incomplete." The report of the Thai lab did not elaborate on the methodology of its tests, she added.

"Local distributors of powdered milk brands should apologise to the public instead of trying to hide the facts, and at the same time they should ask the Chinese company Sanlu to compensate them for the loss of their business," she suggested.

Meanwhile, BSTI has been briefing the media on the 'safe level of melamine contamination', instead of warning the public about its disastrous impact on health, especially on children's health.

Four children died in China due to kidney stones that occurred from being fed melamine contaminated milk, while 53,000 others are currently suffering from kidney failures due to the same reason.

Corporate Scandal: GrameenPhone & Telenor

Telenor officials, with chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas at center, admit they have failed to adequately monitor working conditions at GrameenPhone's suppliers.

PHOTO: SVEIN ERIK FURULUND

Telenor, Peace Prize winner caught in labour scandal

A Danish TV documentary has revealed miserable working conditions and environmental violations at companies in Bangladesh that act as suppliers to GrameenPhone, which is co-owned by Norwegian telecoms firm Telenor and firms founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

The documentary shows miserable working conditions at several firms supplying Telenor-owned GrameenPhone. Hard-hats were donned when Telenor came to inspect. PHOTO: TELENOR Telenor's Baksaas with Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Together, they own GrameenPhone, although Yunus has wanted Telenor to reduce its stake. PHOTO: TELENOR

It's an embarrassing labour scandal for Telenor, which itself is majority-owned by the government of Norway, a country that prides itself on championing fair labour conditions and human rights.

It also reflects poorly on Grameen Telecom and Grameen Bank, which own 38 percent of GrameenPhone (Telenor has 62 percent) and which were founded by Peace Prize-winner Yunus not least to help lift people in Bangladesh out of abject poverty through the micro-credit system.

The documentary, made by Danish journalist Tom Heinemann and to be aired on Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) Thursday evening, reveals shocking working conditions at the firms supplying GrameenPhone. Employees were shown working with hazardous chemicals and heavy metals virtually without protection. Workers were as young as 13 years, a clear violation of child labour laws. The firms were caught allowing polluted wastewater to spill into nearby rice fields.

And in one case, a worker was killed when he fell into an unsecured pool of acid.

Telenor, clearly believing that the best defense is a good offense, opted to reveal some of the findings of the documentary even before it was aired. Telenor officials claim they were shaken by the documentary's findings, and admit they failed to adequately monitor the operations of GrameenPhone's suppliers.

"We are deeply moved by the case, and the human side of it," Telenor chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas told reporters. He called the labour violations "completely unacceptable," claiming Telenor had trained the firms in health and safety issues. "But we've clearly been bad about following up afterwards," Baksaas admitted.

He neglected to mention the worker fatality, but confirmed it when questioned by a reporter from Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende.

Telenor and the Norwegian state have generated huge profits on GrameenPhone, which has as many as 20 million customers, but Baksaas said he didn't feel badly that the operation earns a lot on the work of poor employees. "We haven't taken out substantial dividends on what we've earned in Bangladesh," Baksaas said. "The money has gone into investments that are building up the country."

Norway's government minister in charge of business and industry, Dag Terje Andersen, wrote in an e-mail to Aftenposten that the working conditions shown in the documental "assuming they are accurate, clearly are unacceptable."

Andersen claimed, however, that Telenor has worked actively for years to make its own ethical regulations part of all operations, also those at suppliers. "It looks like the follow-up on the part of Telenor was inadequate," he wrote. Telenor has since conducted inspections at five suppliers of mobile telephone masts, and has fired one of them.

Telenor and Yunus have been involved in a long-simmering conflict over ownership of GrameenPhone. Yunus has wanted Telenor to reduce its stake.

Aftenposten English Web Desk
Nina Berglund

Bangladesh's BTRC asks Grameenphone (GP) why licence won't be revoked

BTRC asks GP why licence won't be revoked

Maruf Mallick
bdnews24.com Telecoms Correspondent

Dhaka, Jan 30 (bdnews24.com) – The telecoms regulator Wednesday asked Grameenphone (GP) to explain why its licence would not be cancelled or suspended on charges of breaching agreement and telecoms rules.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission gave the country's largest mobile phone operator 30 days to come up with a reply to its notice.

The notice was reached to the chief executive of GP through a special messenger in the afternoon.

BTRC chairman Manzurul Alam told bdnews24.com that the notice had been served in line with section 46 of Bangladesh Telecommunication Act.

"They will have to give us a reply within 30 days from the receipt of the notice," he said.

The notice termed illegal the agreement to allow other companies to access GP's network facility and the company's financial transactions with them.

The notice came days after BTRC filed a case against GP's two preceding chief executives and eight incumbent and former high officials, charging them with involvement in illegal VoIP business.

GP and Malaysian mobile phone operator DiGi Telecommunications have also been accused of "conniving" with Bangladeshi internet service provider (ISP) AccessTel in the case.

Norwegian telecoms heavyweight Telenor owns major stakes in GP and DiGi.

The former GP officials accused in the case are CEOs Eric Aas and Ola Ree, Technical Director Thor Randhaug, Chief Technical Officer Yogesh Sanjeev Malik, and Sales and Marketing Director Mehboob Chowdhury.

The accused incumbent GP officials are Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Director Khalid Hasan, Chief Technical Officer Md Shafiqul Islam, Sales and Marketing Director Kafil HS Muyeed, Chief Financial Officer Md Aril Al Islam and Head of Revenue Assurance Espen Wiig Warendroph.

The regulator is carrying out further investigations to start prosecution.

BTRC's notice mentions that a taskforce composed of regulatory and law-enforcement officials along with technical experts raided GP's headquarters in Gulshan on Dec 6, 2007.

It examined GP's call records and found its network was connected with AccessTel through four E1 links. It alerted the investigators and they hunted GP's internal records and emails from Dec 7-Dec 14 last year.

The probe revealed that GP's expatriate and local top officials were involved in unscrupulous VoIP operations. It also found that DiGi had been GP's overseas partner in the unlawful VoIP venture.

"The majority shareholder's consent to such illegal international VoIP operations has become apparent to the probe committee," the BTRC said in its written complaint to the police.

The regulator also spoke of GP's deliberate non-cooperation with the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

GP's Head of Revenue Assurance Espen Wiig Warendroph had verbally instructed his staff not to reveal the call records of a specific phone number (01713130400) to the elite crime buster.

The number was found to have been used by AccessTel in VoIP call termination, BTRC said.

The investigators then retrieved emails of suspected foreign and local officials of GP.

"It proves the involvement of Grameenphone's high ranking officials in the illegal call termination business," the regulator said.

The regulator has already fined GP Tk 168 crore for running illegal VoIP business and the firm has paid the fine.

bdnews24.com/mrf/bd/1717 hours