Description of Melamine

• Melamine is a synthetic chemical product that is used in a wide range of industrial applications such as resins and foams, cleaning products, fertilizers and pesticides. It has been modified and made to be components of many household products throughout the world including innumerable uses of plastics, adhesives and glues, laminated products such as plywood, cleaners and fire-retardant paint.
  
  

The Issues

• Melamine presents two serious issues. One is that it does not amalgamate with its counterpart components in products, which means that it is capable of moving around within the product under certain conditions. For example, plates that contain melamine can have the chemical leach out and into the food when certain acidic foods are added or if they reach specific temperatures from food that’s on them or if they are used in the microwave.
  
  Most people aren’t aware that the discoloration of the products is from this leaching and will continue to use them. The second and more concerning issue is that as a crop fertilizer, melamine is poured into the soil and is absorbed by the plants. No conclusions have been drawn to date, but the fear is that a contamination of epidemic proportions could present itself at any point once enough melamine has been ingested. And since people eat different amounts of natural and prepared foods, it’s impossible to tell how deadly the effects might be or when.
  
  

Food Contamination

• Nitrogen is used in assessing the amount of protein in specific foods, and since melamine rates high at 66 percent, it has become a common proxy for measuring the protein content in food. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the recent melamine contamination disaster in the milk industry in China was caused by melamine being inadvertently added as a substitute for the protein in the milk. Though tasteless and unrecognizable, this resulted in 294,000 babies becoming ill, with 50,000 critical and hospitalized and six dying.
  
  

Further Contamination

• The possible adverse affects of melamine exposure on humans and animals has been suspected for years due to the knowledge of its elements. However, it was not brought to any serious attention until it became a global concern in 2007 when thousands of animals were poisoned and died from melamine contamination in the pet food.
  
  

Effects of Melamine Ingestion

• In the milk incident in China, it was discovered that an ingestion of melamine could rapidly form stones and gravel in the urinary system. By the time it was discovered and a cure was put in place, several children had died from the obstruction which caused acute renal failure. In most cases, the stones were able to be dissolved with hydration, alkalization or lithotripsy, however, there is no way of predicting what effects this exposure may cause in the long term from the current supposedly controlled usage of melamine.
  
  

Prevention

• Many countries like Canada and the U.S. are working with the World Health Organization to help prevent further contamination episodes by enforcing strict regulations on the use of melamine with food or food products. Foods are being tested regularly, products are being inspected and tested, and recalls are being put into motion at the first hint of contamination. With the global consensus for going green, pesticides and fertilizers with melamine components are being prohibited.