Last Wednesday a man by the name of Zhao Lianhai was sentenced to prison for speaking out against contaminated milk. Mr. Lianhai whose son was a victim of ingesting milk laced with melamine attempted to organize other parents who's children were affected by the contaminated product. He started a website which has now been blocked that promoted similar unification and demand for justice against the milk companies.
Melamine which is an organic compound often used in the manufacture of various plastics. The addition of melamine to milk or powdered infant formulas stemmed from the companies' desire to increase the perceived protein content of their products. This is usually measured by nitrogen content. Melamine being a high producer of nitrogen tips the scales during these tests. This is how Chinese companies are getting around the fact that many of them water down their milk thereby producing lower protein counts.
According to the New York Times: "By the time the Chinese news media publicized the contamination in the fall of 2008, six babies had died and 300,000 others had been sickened, including 50,000 who were hospitalized with kidney problems."
It seems preposterous then that someone should go to jail for speaking out against this injustice. However Mr. Lianhai was tried and arrested Wednesday for creating social disorder. He reportedly tore at his uniform exclaiming "I'm innocent" when the sentence was handed down.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/world/asia/11beijing.html?ref=asia
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/m/melamine/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
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