China\'s Tainted Baby Milk Powder

China's Tainted Baby Milk Powder

Annotated Bibliography

Yardley, J. & Barboza, D. (2008). Despite warnings, China's regulators failed to stop tainted milk. New York Times. Retrieved June 13, 2010 from http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:OV_785PQdQQJ:scholar.google.com/+china+tainted+milk&hl=en&as_sdt=2000.

This article outlines the case that China's regulatory environment contributed to the tainted baby formula scandal. The authors note that media restrictions leading up to the Beijing Olympics prohibited news agencies from reporting on the scandal, which could have lead to increased public awareness and government action. The authors also note that the regulatory system is lacking, which allowed major dairies to go without inspection. These two policies of the Communist Party are called into question by the authors as they attempt to understand the failings of the different parties that lead to the scandal. These failings in particular led directly to the scandal, and the authors argue that the scandal may indicate that the single party system is incapable of managing a transparent and effective regulatory system.

Vause, J. (2009). Death sentences in China tainted milk case. CNN. Retrieved June 13, 2010 from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/01/22/china.tainted.milk/index.html.

This article outlines the outcomes to the different parties that contributed to the tainted milk scandal. In this article, the disciplinary measures taken by the Chinese government are examined. A variety of individuals were found to have contributed to the scandal, including the middlemen who provided the melamine, but also the CEO of Sanlu, who knew about the tainted milk but released it onto the market anyway. This piece is mainly factual in nature, but raises some of the ethical issues surrounding the case. The author does not pass judgment on the ethical considerations, but provides information from which the decisions made by the various players can be analyzed. The court's findings serve as an ethical benchmark because they illustrate the legal ethics of the case from the Chinese perspective.

Zhu, Z. & Cui, X. (2009). Sanlu ex-boss was aware of tainted milk. China Daily. Retrieved June 13, 2010 from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-01/01/content_7358822.htm

This article, while coming from a biased source (a Chinese state-run newspaper) it illustrates some of the ethical decisions that were made. Sanlu CEO Tian Wenhua, for example, knew about the tainted milk in May but only told authorities in August. This delay not only allowed Sanlu to continue profiting from the tainted milk but also risked the health of millions of infants. The authors of this piece also outline the steps that the company claims to have taken to investigate the problem and address the issue. It also delves briefly into the role that shareholder Fonterra, a New Zealand company, may have played. This role was deemed to be very limited, and the bulk of the blame is cast by the authors on Tian and other executives at Sanlu. This article does not address what, if any, ethical safeguards were in place at Sanlu that may have prevented the contamination from occurring. The only safeguards utilized were the ad hoc tests ordered that eventually determined melamine to be the cause of the contamination.

Proposal

The title of the paper is to be "Sanlu Group: China's Tainted Baby Milk Powder." The paper will discuss the tainted baby powder scandal at Chinese dairy Sanlu, wherein milk was contaminated by melamine, an industrial chemical that causes kidney ailments in humans. Six babies died and thousands were made sick as the result of this contamination. Management at Sanlu was aware of the contamination for months before it was reported, and in that time knowingly sold contaminated milk. This raises questions about the ethical culture at Sanlu and about the competence of the China regulatory system. Government response to the scandal has involved taking to trial those deemed responsible, which culminated in a pair of executions, and tightening regulations on melamine content.