RedScrubs
The Resource for Medical Professionals

The poisons in some Chinese milk might not be just from pure melamine, but actually from melamine scrap that has other chemicals in it. Melamine is a nitrogen-rich compound normally used for processing products like plastic, glue, textiles, flame-retarding agents and rubber antioxidants. It does not have any nutritional value, but is used to make a product look like it has more protein in it than it actually does. By itself, melamine in not toxic in low doses -so how it caused kidney failure in thousands of Chinese babies is still unclear. Melamine scrap, however, is a leftover by-product of processing coal into melamine and may contain more than just melamine itself. Because of the way it is processed, it can also have toxic residue from urea, ammonia, acetic acid and sodium nitrite in it and this may be the reason for the observed toxicity seen in so many children.