More news of civil and criminal actions arising from tainted milk in China

Yesterday's headline told of a class-action suit by Chinese parents against 22 dairy companies involved in supply the tainted milk that sickened so many children last year. Unlike previous filings which have been rejected by lower courts, this suit was filed in the Supreme People's Court in Beijing. In his NYT story, Edward Wong calls the filing "a rare instance in which Chinese lawyers are proceeding with a class-action product liability case." A lawyer for the parents in this most recent suit is quoted as saying that this suit has been filed with the higher court in "the hope that at least they will give us an official reply." Among the plaintiffs in this suit are the families of several dead children who have not even been acknowledged in the Chinese government's official death toll.

A headline today announces that three men involved in producing and distributing the tainted milk have been sentenced to death. Here is the lede from David Barboza's NYT story:

A group of high-ranking dairy company executives and middlemen were sentenced by a Chinese court on Thursday to long jail terms, life in prison and, for three individuals, the death penalty for endangering public safety last year by selling and producing tainted milk products, according to the state-run news media.

The court said members of the group had intentionally produced and sold fake or substandard dairy products laced with a toxic chemical called melamine, which the government says sickened about 300,000 children and caused the death of at least six in one of the worst food safety scandals in China in decades.

Barboza quotes one parent whose child suffered kidney stones from drinking the tainted milk. His concerns are much about the lack of civil compensation as about the criminal liability now being imposed. He said,“I feel sorry for them, but they are just scapegoats . . . .The ones who should take the responsibility are the government, like the quality supervision bureau and the Health Ministry." The parents reported that he had spent almost $3K providing medical attention and care to his son, while the government had provided only $300 in compensation.