CONSUMERS WANT TO KNOW BRANDS OF TAINTED BABY MILK

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Feb 14 (ANTARA) - The House of Representatives (DPR) and the National Consumer Protection Agency (BPKN) have urged the government to make public the brands of infant milk, whose samples according to tests conducted between 2003 and 2006, contained Enterobacter Sakazakii bacteria which could attack infant's brain membranes and digestive tissues.          The Bogor-based Institute of Agriculture (IPB) conducted tests on the samples of infant formula milk taken between 2003 and 2006 and found that 20 percent of the samples were contaminated by sakazakii bacteria. However, the brands of the tainted milk have never been made public.          This reason has led David Tobing, a resident, to sue the IPB at the Supreme Court, demanding that IPB release the brands of the spoiled milk. The Supreme Court in 2010 ruled in favor of David and issued a verdict ordering the Health Ministry, the Food and Drug Supervision Agency (BPOM) and IPB to announce the brands of the contaminated milk.          Yet, the brand names of the baby milk remained unknown to the public and caused unrest among mothers whose babies consume formula milk. Therefore, the DPR urged the government to announce the names of the tainted milk.          "We urged parties mentioned in the Supreme Court's verdict to immediately made public the results of the IPB research on formula infant milk which was circulated in the market within the period of 2003 and 2006 ," Ribka Tjiptaning, chairwoman of the House's Commission IX on health affairs said on Sunday.          She said that it was clear in the Supreme Court's verdict that the ministry of health, BPOM and IPB were obliged to make public the milk brands. But up to now, parties mentioned in the verdict have not done so. There is an impression that the parties mentioned by the Supreme Court verdict were reluctant to obey the legal decision.          "Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih adversely talked a lot about things that were safe from the danger of sakazakii bacteria and claimed her side was not informed of the brands of milk suspected to have contained the bacteria," Tjiptaning said.          On the other hand, instead of announcing the brands of milk said to be contaminated, the BPOM has been busy talking about the results of its recent tests on the same products circulating in the 2008 - 2010 period, which it said had no contamination.           The IPB also remains silent over the results of its study which found that the samples of infant milk it took in 2003 - 2006 were contaminated by sakazakii bacteria. Leaders of IPB also tightly keep themselves silent, even if demand for the publication of the results of its study is increasing.           The demand for the publication of the IPB finding also came from the National Consumers Protection Agency (BPKN).           "We have sent a letter to the relevant ministry and IPB asking them to disclose to the public the brands of the milk said to be contaminated by enterobacter sakazakii bacteria," BPKN chairperson Suarhatini Hadad said.           She said that actually it was not too important now to announce the contaminated brands because according to the latest test by the BPOM all brands of formula milks circulating in the market are free from the bacteria, but for the sake of clarification to the public the BPKN called on the relevant institutions to announced them.          The Indonesia Consumers Institute Foundation (YLKI) concurred with the BPKN opinion, saying that clarifications made by the BPOM were actually already enough.          "Clarifications by the BPOM were enough for those consuming milk now, yet for those who consumed the milk when study was conducted may need explanations.  The governmet should explain the short-and-long term impacts of consuming it. If it has no impact, the people need not worry about it," YLKI chairperson Husna Zahir said.          The test conducted by the BPOM on the samples of the same product taken from 2008 to 2011 did not find any contamination by sakazakii bacteria. Of the samples, 96 were taken in March 2008, 11 in 2009, 99 in 2010 and 18 samples were taken until February 2011.          "It is no longer relevant to talk about brands of 2003-2006. Yet, to eliminate concern among parents whose infants consume formula milk, the government must focus on explaining the impact of the bacteria on the development of babies," said Husna.          Previously, Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih has explained that cases related to infections by Enterobacter Sakazakii bacteria are rare, where the World Health Organization (WHO) only recorded 48 infants infected with the bacteria within the period of 1961 and 2003.          "We have no report on the case so far in Indonesia," the minister told the press last week.          She said that Sakazakii bacteria were particularly dangerous to infants aged below 28 days, born with low weights, born prematurely and those with unstable conditions.          The bacteria can easily be killed in 15 seconds with hot water of about 70 degrees Celsius. Thus, if infants are to be fed with formula milk, mothers should use boil water and sterile bottles.          Minister Endang Sedyaningsih said that good preparation would decrease the risk of bacteria infection in babies.          "The bacteria can live in a dry product, but will die if exposed to heat of 70 degrees Celsius for 15 seconds," she said.     (T.A014/A/HAJM/12:55/f001) 14-02-2011 12:57