Gut Bacteria Conspired in Melamine Poisonings
by Elizabeth Pennisi on 13 February 2013, 2:00 PM
In 2008, nearly 300,000 infants in China got sick from milk formula tainted with melamine, a plastics additive that was used illegally to bulk up the formula's apparent protein content. Now, a study in rats implicates bacteria living in the gut as unwitting accomplices in this mass poisoning. The work helps clarify how melamine toxicity arises and also drives home the key role that gut bacteria play in human health.
Melamine is an industrial chemical used as a fire retardant and a stabilizer for plastics. In 2007, a rash of kidney stones in dogs and cats in the United States was traced to melamine-contaminated gluten from China. Then in September 2008, scores of infants in China were hospitalized for kidney stones; at least six died...
