Melamine is a chemical that has a high nitrogen content which is typically in the form of crystals.
Why? What is it's purpose?
Melamine is used in many different plastics and kitchenware, and was previously used as a fertilizer due to it's high nitrogen content.
Is it dangerous?
Melamine can have some serious ramifications if ingested. No human tests have been preformed but animal tests have shown it to cause kidney stones, kidney failure, and in some instances death.
What is the relation between China and melamine?
It has been revealed that there has been melamine added to several food products in China. The Chinese would use water to dilute their milk at one point, but it was eventually discovered because of the evident drop in protein content during tests. They were able to "fix" this issue, however, by adding melamine to the milk. The high nitrogen content of the melamine would skew the tests to make apparent protein increase. There was also a case in 2007 where many cats and dogs died as a result of dog food that had been contaminated with wheat gluten and rice products that had been "enriched" with melamine.
Works Cited
http://www.rense.com/general84/a6.jpg
http://www.who.int/csr/media/faq/QAmelamine/en/
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