Govt warning on milk consumption confuses parents

Consumers, already worried about health safety of their babies living on milk powder, are now in a fresh dilemma as the government ordered a ban on consumption of eight imported toxic milk brands instead of banning their sales.
Most of the milk brands, tested melamine positive, are on sale in the city stores along with many other brands, and parents are finding it difficult to select the safe and suitable ones for their babies.
Media advertisements and shop-owners are claiming that other brands are safe, but the consumers cannot rest upon such claims since the brands are yet to be tested.
Liquid milk supply is far less than demand and most of the consumers have no alternative but to buy one milk powder or other for their babies.
‘Really I am confused. I don’t know which one I should buy for my two years’ old daughter,’ said Shahana Akter, a housewife shopping at New Market on Friday.
Abu Taher, the shop owner, also could not give any good advice to his customers searching for a melamine-free milk brand.
‘Milk sales in my shop declined to less than Tk 2000 a day now from an average daily turnover of Tk 20,000 before the melamine scandal surfaced,’ said Taher, also a leader of New Market Shop Owners Association.
Engineer Reza Ahmed Choudhury, a shopper at Agora superstore in Dhanmondi, Friday said that the government’s advice not to consume certain brands was very much confusing since there was no bar on their sales and no advice about which brands were safe for consumption.
‘It is contradictory again when we see media advertisements in favour of some brands,’ he said.
Emdad Hossian Malek, who heads the market monitoring cell at the Consumer Association of Bangladesh, said such contradictions were adding to the worries of the parents.
‘The government should complete tests of all milk brands and tell people clearly which ones are safe, ordering immediate withdrawal of toxic ones from the stores,’ he said.
Tariqul Islam, a Power Development Board senior officer, said he was confused by contradictory claims.
‘Government advises us not to take eight baby milk brands, while some companies are claiming that their products are melamine-free. And we are puzzled,’ said Tarikul, worried about suitable alternatives for his two sons, aged three and four, who consume tinned milk.
Ishrat Jahan, an officer at Transom Electronics Limited, said she felt just helpless as she could not decide what to feed her tow years and four months’ old son, who used to consume Nido.
‘I went through reports that Nido is melamine contaminated. But my husband shows me the claims of the marketing company that Nido brand is melamine-free,’ said Ishrat.
Mohammad Selim, a drugstore owner at Mahakhali, said he himself was puzzled about the safety of all milk formulas he sells for the newborns.
‘Truly speaking, I cannot say which one is safe, which one not,’ he said.
Kazi Reazi Karim, a retired private sector executive, said that for the past couple of days he had been in desperate search for his village milkman, who supplies fresh cow milk.
‘I am no more confident about any powdered milk for my granddaughter,’ he said.
Sharmin Sumi, an employee at the Standard Chartered Bank, was worried about her one year old son, who consumes Dano brand milk, after reports that the brand contains melamine.
‘I cannot rely on any brand now and fresh cow milk is not available in my area. I don’t know what to do now,’ said the mother.
The government on Thursday warned people against eight brands of imported milk which are tested in the chemistry lab at Dhaka University to have been contaminated by toxic melamine.
A government handout named the milk powder brands — Sweet Baby, Yashli 1 and Yashli 2 sourced from China, Nido Fortified Instant and Anlene from New Zealand, Diploma and Red Cow from Australia and Dano from Denmark — to have been contaminated by melamine.
Chinese brands Sweet Baby, Yashli 1 and Yashli 2 were found to have been contaminated by melamine in lab testing done earlier by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution and private sector enterprise PlasmaPlus.
‘People are warned not to consume the milk power of eight brands which were tested by the Dhaka University lab to have presence of melamine,’ read the government handout, headlined ‘Ban on consumption of eight milk brands having melamine presence