From Deseret News archives:

About melamine

Published: Thursday, April 26, 2007 12:08 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
Melamine is a non-protein nitrogen source with a variety of uses, including fertilizer. It is believed that melamine has the potential to cause kidney damage because of crystal formation in kidney tubules, tiny tubes in the kidneys that act in parallel to filter blood and produce urine. When the crystals form, it is thought that they damage the lining in the tubules, which can lead to kidney failure.

Signs of kidney failure, as evidenced by the dogs and cats that were affected by pet food contamination, include initial increases in the frequency of urination, becoming less and less frequent as the kidneys fail.

Signs of kidney failure have occurred soon (usually a matter of days) after the consumption of contaminated products.

The threat to humans who consume meat products from contaminated animals is still under review. Scientists are studying whether melamine also penetrates muscle, and to what effect (both for the animal, and those who consume it).

Since few in the United States consume swine kidneys directly, it is thought that the risk to human health from the possible hog contamination is relatively small.


Source: Jeffrey O. Hall, head of Utah State University's Diagnostic Toxicology Laboratory

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Related content
previousnext

Latest comments

BYU football: 5 keys to victory

Score more points.

When the coach is organized and runs the team, there is consistancy. When...

Hello Anonymous...you chicken to let us know who you are? What is wrong with...

Letters: Reckless imbalance

I think it was the Clinton administration. Tibet was not a politically...

Letters: Ethics petition a fraud

um...that was...odd. Seriously no one is interested in your paranoid...

Speed kills. Utes win.

Which coach will take the 5th?

Coach Whittingham!

And Y'all thought BYU football was Bi-Polar? Somebody get these guys some meds!

Letters: Health reporting biased

@ 12:13, Your 10:04 response was a non-response. You slandered Evelyn...

Rivalry Week is highly profane

Instead of getting rid of football let's get rid of the crap that you teach...

Advertisements