LEARNING TO DISCERN: A law-enforcement personnel with the industrial and commercial department imparts to local citizens the method to identify fake products during International Consumer Rights Day in Xinxiang, Henan Province on March 15 (GAO ZHIYONG)

Almost all of the 25,100 tons of defective milk powder seized in the 2008 toxic baby food probe had been incinerated and buried, and none had been found to have re-entered the market, China's National Food Safety Rectification Office (NFSRO) said on March 15.

Only a small amount of tainted milk powder was kept for specific purposes, such as for evidence in judicial procedures, an official with the office said.

March 15 is the International Consumer Rights Day. With development of market economy, Chinese authorities and consumers have increased their efforts in fighting for consumer rights.

Tainted milk scandal

The toxic milk powder scandal originated in 2008, when at least six infants were killed and more than 300,000 children were sickened across China, caused by melamine-tainted dairy products.

Melamine, which can cause kidney stones and renal failure, was added to milk to artificially boost protein levels, experts say.

The milk powder destroyed this time was sealed by local authorities or quality supervision and inspection administrative organs in 2008, who suspected it was contaminated or likely to be tainted with melamine, the NFSRO said.

After a nationwide crackdown on tainted milk powder in 2008, melamine-tainted dairy products resurfaced in several Chinese provinces in 2009.

The NFSRO urged local authorities to launch a further special investigation from February 1 to 10 to ascertain the exact amount of tainted milk powder and to seal it immediately upon discovery.

The investigation found milk powder from 22 dairy plants, including the Shanghai Panda Dairy, contained excessive melamine.

On March 3, the Fengxian District People's Court in Shanghai sentenced three executives of Shanghai Panda Dairy Co. to jail terms of three to five years for their roles in the production and sale of melamine-tainted dairy products last year.

The three were accused of deliberately producing milk flavoring with melamine-tainted condensed milk that had been returned by a dealer in southeast China's Fujian Province in the wake of the 2008 toxic milk powder scandal.

Some of the flavoring was found to contain up to 34.1 mg of melamine per kg, much higher than the government permitted maximum level of 2.5 mg per kg.

Shanghai Panda Dairy was shut down following the discovery of the melamine contamination in April last year.

In September and October last year, an initial investigation showed 10 tons of tainted milk powder leftovers were sold to a local dairy producer Lekang Co., located in Weinan, Shaanxi Province, and then three suspects were arrested.

In December last year, police detained the general manager and two workers with Shaanxi Jinqiao Dairy Co. Ltd. in connection with tainted milk powder.

Leftover milk powder contaminated by melamine was sealed in 2008 and required to be destroyed, but some of it might have been used illegally as raw material for dairy products in certain areas, police said.

The 2008 milk scandal resulted in the collapse of the Sanlu Dairy Group based in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province.

China's dairy industry recovered in 2009, when production increased by 12.9 percent, reaching about 19.35 million tons.

Dodgy business practices

IMPOUNDING FAKES: Two officers with local industrial and commercial department collect counterfeit cosmetics at a shop in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on March 10, 2009 (WANG PENG)

CCTV's 3.15 Evening Gala, an annual program broadcast to help consumers fight for their rights on March 15, brought to light examples of typical business misconduct occurring during the past year.

This year's program was the 20th since it began in 1991.

On the show, therapeutic beds, Hewlett-Packard (HP) laptops, one-time chopsticks, trucks, alkaline water and flat-panel TVs, were under the spotlight as typical examples of business misconduct.

HP, the U.S. computer giant, was accused by hundreds of consumers in China because of faulty graphics chips and display screens in its laptops.

On March 5, more than 170 consumers filed a group complaint to the country's product quality control watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ). Within five days more than 200 consumers had officially joined the protest group.

By March 10, more than 1,400 consumers had expressed their willingness to take part in the group complaint against HP and more than 80 lawyers offered to help in the case.

The quality watchdog was asked to launch an investigation into the laptops, order the company to recall faulty goods or replace them with new ones, and provide compensation. It was also suggested to issue orders to launch a recall of all faulty computers.

Wang Yufeng, a lawyer at the Yingke Law Firm in Beijing, said the problems with HP's product were down to faulty graphics cards produced by Nvidia, a chipmaker which supplies several PC producers.

In July 2008, Nvidia publicly acknowledged quality problems with graphics cards and announced it was paying PC makers to deal with resulting problems.

"HP has recalled many products in foreign markets since 2003 but it never has in China," Wang said. He considered that discrimination against Chinese consumers. The lawsuit against HP was also a way of attracting attention from the government and the public because China has yet to have any regulations on computer recalls.

On March 14, GAQSIQ launched an investigation into faulty HP laptops soon after receiving complaints from customers. The findings, issued six days later, showed problematic graphic chips, which resulted in black screens, overheating and computer crashes, were found in HP Pavilion DV2000 and Compaq Presario v3000 laptops.

Defective display screens were also found in six HP laptop models, including the HP 541.

The findings report was sent to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the GAQSIQ said.

The three government agencies closely monitored the company in implementing regulations to rectify matters.

On March 15, the IT firm, one of the largest in the world, delivered an apology for any inconvenience caused to its consumers because of the quality of its products and services, and pledged to extend warranty periods for certain types of laptops.

"We will listen to what our clients have to say and take immediate action. We will provide them with the best service," Zhang Yongli, Vice President of HP China, said.

HP China also launched an additional customer care plan for its consumers in China who bought faulty laptops, with a two-year extension of the warranty period.

"We've made great progress. Now by using this joint effort approach, more consumers are aware of their rights," Wang said.

'Magic' therapies

Therapeutic beds made by some Chinese companies were also put under the spotlight on CCTV's 3.15 program.

The companies were accused of swindling the public, especially the elderly, who had back or neck problems.

They provided free trials of their therapeutic vibrating beds and held lectures proclaiming their products were a must-have to cure more than 80 kinds of illnesses.

But those who bought the beds, priced at about 15,000 yuan ($2,197) each, found their pains had become worse.

Medical experts said that up to the present day, there is no scientific evidence showing therapeutic beds can cure so many kinds of illnesses.

"Their advertising went far beyond the actual function of the therapeutic beds. Their activities are a medley of violations of China's consumer rights regulations," CCTV reported.

Another "magic" product exposed by the program was alkaline water.

The water was touted by sellers as 100-percent calcium water and having magic effects on reducing blood pressure, getting rid of acne—and even preserving youthfulness by changing the acidity of people's constitutions.

Wang Tao, Director of the Department of Nephrology of the No.3 Hospital of Peking University, said there was no "acidic constitution" in medical science...and even if some acidic wastes were deposited in the body because of chronic diseases, the kidneys and lungs could clean them out and expel them in a short time.

Further, TV manufacturers, including LG and Sony, were accused of offering a two-year warranty period for their products in violation of Chinese regulations stipulating a mandatory three-year period.

The regulations say sellers must obey the rule of the Three Guarantees, namely guarantee of refund, guarantee of product replacement, and guarantee of repair.

A report published by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on March 15 said China's industry and commerce departments dealt with 726,626 consumer complaints last year, down 7.3 percent year on year, and saved 824 million yuan ($120.64 million) for consumers.

It was the first decrease in complaints in five years, the report said.