There is both good and bad news regarding the MELAMINE poisoning that has ripped through the headlines over the past few years.
The Food and Drug Administration has released a new report that confirms that consumers will only be ingesting a few particles at a time if they eat products containing the resin base material. The report also stated that there are 'safe levels' that can be ingested by nearly everyone. The bad news is that, depending on the size of your digestive tract, it can also kill you especially if you are an infant.
This was only discovered after more than 50,000 babies in China were stricken by acute kidney failure after drinking Melamine laced baby formula. Several infants reportedly died because their small tiny bodies could not digest the chemical.
Chinese manufacturers, known for their technological advances and money saving tactics, challenged that theory first by poisoning dogs and cats in early 2007 by adding the nitrogen-rich chemical to pet food. Their secret may have gone unnoticed had pets instinctively snubbed the tainted food, but that is not the case. Instead pets trusted their owners to know that the food they were serving them would keep them healthy and fit, not lead them to kidney related ailments and/or death.
Of course manufactures, who are usually creatures of habit, have gone even further by adding the chemical to candy just in time for Halloween, and pretzels just in time for the holidays. The list is endless it appears [click on headline for a list of more tainted products] so consumers should be wary of anything that melts in your mouth but not in your hands. This is a clear sign that it takes heat to break down the chemical in Melamine.
Even though the news is bad there is one more upside for those who have ingested more than they can handle. When a person dies from an illness related to Melamine poisoning they can choose to remain with their family after opting for cremation.
One option is to have the ashes reformulated for use in the kitchen. Mortuary designers can turn anyone's contaminated ashes into laminate counter tops
that can be tinted to a variety of colors and designed to fit your space.
If you want more bang for your buck you can opt to spread the ashes into equal parts to create an entire set of storage containers, which will allow you to have contact with your loved ones on a daily basis and are far easier to share with relatives of the deceased.
Either option is affordable and environmentally correct.
Scientists around the world agree that reformulating a loved one is safer than scattering the ashes because of the possible impact on the ozone layer.