SHIJIAZHUANG, China, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Chinese officials say 60 people have been formally arrested in the country's tainted infant milk formula scandal.
Twenty-one of them went on trial late last month on charges of adding melamine-laced "protein powder" to milk or selling the tainted milk to dairies, causing urinary problems such as kidney stones in thousands of Chinese babies last year, Xinhua, the state-run Chinese news agency, reported Sunday.
A report from Zhang Deli, chief procurator of the Hebei Provincial People's Procuratorate, vowed the legal system would "live up to its obligation, handle the milk scandal properly, and crack down on all crimes that disrupt market order and economic development."
Deli said verdicts and sentences in the trials would be delivered soon, including the case of Tian Wenhua, former board chairman and general manager of Sanlu Group dairy, the company at the heart of the melamine scandal, Xinhua reported.
The Chinese Ministry of Health says the tainted milk powder killed at least six babies while another 294,000 infants suffered urinary problems.
