Japanese child suffers kidney stones in China

BEIJING (Kyodo) A Japanese toddler residing in China's Shandong Province has developed kidney stones after drinking powdered milk apparently tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, a Japanese Embassy official said Saturday.

The official said the boy, now aged around 2, was fed since birth on milk formula made by a Chinese milk product maker at the center of China's melamine scandal, the Hebei-based Sanlu Group.

After the milk contamination became public knowledge earlier this year, the boy's parents took him to be tested at a free clinic set up by a Chinese medical organization, where he tested positive for kidney stones.

The boy, however, has not been hospitalized and is not in serious condition.

The case is the first in which a Japanese child has been sickened by the melamine-tainted milk scandal.

The scandal involves adding melamine to diluted milk to falsely boost protein readings.

But the tactic backfired after the toxic substance, which can cause kidney stones, sickened more than 50,000 young children. At least four have died.