China: 6 babies may have died from tainted milk

It was the first time since Sept. 21 that health authorites have revised the total number of babies sickened by milk powered adulterated with the industrial chemical melamine. The previous total was about 50,000.

The ministry said in a statement late Monday that authorities across the country found that 294,000 babies had suffered from urinary problems after consuming milk powder tainted with melamine.

"Most of the sickened children received outpatient treatment only for small amounts of sand-like kidney stones found in their urinary systems, while a part of the patients had to be hospitalized for the illness," the statement said.

Thousands of parents have been clamoring for compensation for their sickened and dead children. The release of the figures raises the question of whether the Health Ministry is getting closer to finalizing a compensation scheme.

Six babies had possibly died, the statement said, with four of the cases recorded in the provinces of Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guizhou and Shaanxi, and the other two in Gansu province in the northwest.

The ministry said it investigated 11 possible deaths related to melamine-tainted milk and ruled five of them out. It did not give further details nor say whether the three earlier reported deaths were included in the new total.

By last Thursday, 861 babies were still hospitalized with kidney problems caused by contaminated milk powder, down from the previous week's figure of 1,041, the statement said.

The ministry declined phone interviews Tuesday and did not immediately respond to a faxed list of questions from The Associated Press.

The scandal was first reported in September, but the government has said that Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co., a dairy firm at the center of the crisis, knew as early as last year that its products were tainted with melamine and that company and local officials first tried to cover it up.