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Melamine or melanine?

September 26, 2008

I am sure we all have heard about the milk catastrophe in China where milk manufacturers used a dangerous substance to fake high protein levels in milk. The practice has been exposed after several babies have died and thousands have been hospitalized in China due to illnesses caused by the substance.

The crisis has triggered a milk scare all over the world including the Philippines. Bloggers have been fast to write about it, I am sure with the intention of providing as much information as possible. But then, I noticed some news items and writeups, even emails, using the term “melamine” while others are using “melanine”.
What is it really, melamine or melanine? Read more at Pinoy Seminars.

Written by gibo · Filed Under Announcement, BlogYaNiHaN, BrainStorm, Current Events, Education, Family, Food & Beverages, General, Health, Medicine, News, Personal, Science, Technology 

Comments


2 Responses to “Melamine or melanine?”

  1. marvin on September 29th, 2008 12:05 pm

    Melamine, Melamine combines with cyanuric acid to form melamine cyanurate, which has been implicated in the Chinese protein export contaminations.
    Melanin on the other hand is a compound found in humans that determines skin pigmentation. reporters on TV must have confused the report with their afternoon session with Belo. :)

  2. stingray on September 30th, 2008 4:49 am

    it is Melamine: from wikipedia

    Melamine is used combined with formaldehyde to produce melamine resin, a very durable thermosetting plastic, and of melamine foam, a polymeric cleaning product. The end products include countertops, fabrics, glues and flame retardants. Melamine is one of the major components in Pigment Yellow 150, a colorant in inks and plastics.

    Melamine is also used to make fertilizers.

    Melamine derivatives of arsenical drugs are potentially important in the treatment of African trypanosomiasis

    Melamine use as non-protein nitrogen (NPN) for cattle was described in a 1958 patent.[8] In 1978, however, a study concluded that melamine “may not be an acceptable nonprotein N source for ruminants” because its hydrolysis in cattle is slower and less complete than other nitrogen sources such as cottonseed meal and urea.

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