So I'm reading the news and I see something about kidney stones in Chinese babies. It's been traced back to melamine-tainted baby formula.
Hold on.
Melamine?!?
I have mixing bowls made of melamine. Like, hard plastic stuff.
Okay, (universally recognized authoritative source) Wikipedia says that there's a difference between melamine and melamine resin (made with melamine and formaldehyde...much safer!). It also says melamine is useful as a fire retardant and pesticide. Goody.
The most interesting part about this was here, in a post by David Goldstein. I found this when I googled "why would manufacturers put melamine." So apparently the melamine inexpensively beefs up the "protein analysis" in food products (including pet food, which was the source of the recall last year). But the weirdest thing is where they get this stuff: it's a byproduct of burnt coal.
So...David Goldstein says a lot about this, including that food with melamine in it has been fed to livestock, including hogs, for years; and that as a result, Americans have probably been ingesting it, too, in that time. His post is interesting and really eye-opening, worth the time to read.
But that's not the point. The point is, that this latest development is so...symbolic. I could make a comparison between the attitude of Americans toward their pets and that of Chinese toward their children. Or, how about a snarky comment about them getting a taste of their own medicine. "That one-child policy not working too well for you guys?" Maybe even a sighing, head-shaking addition to the pile of flattened human rights there. Honestly, though, the thing that strikes me most about these babies is the sadness.
You know...
That feeling where it's just no fun to say "I told you so."
Hold on.
Melamine?!?
I have mixing bowls made of melamine. Like, hard plastic stuff.
Okay, (universally recognized authoritative source) Wikipedia says that there's a difference between melamine and melamine resin (made with melamine and formaldehyde...much safer!). It also says melamine is useful as a fire retardant and pesticide. Goody.
The most interesting part about this was here, in a post by David Goldstein. I found this when I googled "why would manufacturers put melamine." So apparently the melamine inexpensively beefs up the "protein analysis" in food products (including pet food, which was the source of the recall last year). But the weirdest thing is where they get this stuff: it's a byproduct of burnt coal.
So...David Goldstein says a lot about this, including that food with melamine in it has been fed to livestock, including hogs, for years; and that as a result, Americans have probably been ingesting it, too, in that time. His post is interesting and really eye-opening, worth the time to read.
But that's not the point. The point is, that this latest development is so...symbolic. I could make a comparison between the attitude of Americans toward their pets and that of Chinese toward their children. Or, how about a snarky comment about them getting a taste of their own medicine. "That one-child policy not working too well for you guys?" Maybe even a sighing, head-shaking addition to the pile of flattened human rights there. Honestly, though, the thing that strikes me most about these babies is the sadness.
You know...
That feeling where it's just no fun to say "I told you so."
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While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps"
We may be learning but there sure are lots of mistakes along the way.