By AUDRA ANG
Associated Press Writer
Liao Shanfang, left, mother of twins Zhang Peng and Zhang Xue, looks at the children as their father, Zhang Rongwei, sits in their home in Yongan, eastern China's Shandong province, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008. Both children suffered from kidney stones developed after drinking tainted milk powder products. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
YONG'AN VILLAGE, China (AP) -- At the height of the corn harvest in the long muggy days of August, 10-month-old Zhang Peng began refusing to drink his milk, crying fitfully at night as he struggled to sleep. Soon his twin sister Zhang Xue fell ill, too.
Several times, their parents brought the sick babies, who had trouble urinating, to the nearest hospital 20 miles from their farming village. Doctors could not diagnose the problem but gave the children herbal powder and injections.
Then last month, Chinese media revealed that infant formula contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used to make fertilizer and plastics, was sickening babies nationwide.
The news shocked the Zhang family and so began a monthlong ordeal that would see them shuttling back and forth between their home in Shandong province and a hospital in Beijing, 450 miles away.
"We had no idea what was wrong. We were so frightened and worried," the children's mother, Liao Shanfang, told The Associated Press this week from the family's simple house in this village in eastern China's corn belt.
"Even when I saw the news that milk powder had been poisoned, I could not believe it. We never imagined that would be the problem."
Amid China's worst food-safety crisis in years, thousands of parents have jammed into hospital emergency rooms. More than 50,000 children have been treated for kidney ailments and nearly 6,000 remain hospitalized, the Health Ministry said this week. Four deaths have been linked to the toxic milk.
Experts say the long-term effects of prolonged exposure to high levels of melamine have not been studied in humans, but infants and young children are most vulnerable.
"They start off with the simplest immune system, the nervous system still developing," said Peter Dingle, a toxicity expert at Murdoch University in Australia. "They don't have the biochemistry in their body to break down the chemical and eliminate it the way adults do."
After the tainted milk scandal broke in mid-September, Liao and her husband Zhang Rongwei took their twins yet again to their local hospital in Linyi.
This time, Zhang Peng, the boy, was admitted for a five-day stay but he only got worse. He began vomiting and when he could urinate, it came out in a thin, blood-tinged stream. His sister's symptoms weren't as serious; she had sporadic fevers.
From birth, both babies had been given breast milk and formula. The Zhangs first used a cheaper brand that gave the children diarrhea, then switched to one made by Sanlu Group Co., although it cost almost twice as much.
Sanlu was the first company implicated in the scandal, going public with word of contamination on Sept. 11, and the Chinese government later confirmed it was widespread. Unscrupulous suppliers are suspected of adding melamine to watered-down milk to make it appear protein-rich in quality tests.
"These people working at the milk powder companies have no conscience and only care about making money," Liao said angrily. "I'm just disappointed because the government should have done more to protect its citizens."
Plump and round-headed, the Zhang twins had been healthy and affectionate at first. Zhang Xue loved to gnaw on her fingers and smile, showing off her baby teeth. Zhang Peng was more serious but always curious. By September, both babies were listless.
Unable to do more to help them, doctors in Linyi told the Zhangs to seek treatment in Beijing.
The couple hastily arranged for a car ride - at a cost of 300 yuan, about $45, a small fortune - to the Children's Hospital in the capital, where they arrived Sept. 23.
Hours later, Zhang Peng was diagnosed with two large kidney stones that needed surgery. His sister had a single stone the size of a grain of rice - not serious enough to warrant a hospital stay.
"My heart stopped when I read the test results for Zhang Peng," Liao said.
With no choice but to split their lives - and their children - the couple brought their daughter home to her paternal grandmother. Then they returned to Beijing where they spent the next three weeks, sleeping at a relative's home an hour-long bus ride from the hospital.
While hospital treatment was free under a central government mandate, the trip to Beijing was not without significant cost. The burden of harvesting the family's corn fell to Zhang's parents. Travel between their village and Beijing took 10 hours each way.
In a good year, the couple's income is about $1,300. Liao estimated that while they were in Beijing, the family spent about $1,000 and with Zhang unable to work, their losses mounted further.
Ever since the twins were born, the couple, who also have an 11-year-old daughter, have worried how they would support their larger-than-expected family. As rural Chinese, they were permitted by China's strict one-child policy to try for a second child. They ended up with twins.
To make ends meet, the couple worked their fields, while Zhang, a slight 31-year-old, also took odd jobs - repairing floorboards, construction work, ferrying passengers in his motorcycle cab. Child care was split with Zhang's parents, who took in the baby boy when he was 7 months old. Liao, 32, cared for the baby girl and their older daughter.
Despite the weeks of heartache, the twins, who turn 1 this month, are now on the road to recovery. Zhang Peng was discharged from the hospital Monday; his sister was treated with a remedy prescribed by a traditional Chinese medicine doctor.
The toddlers still drink milk but only brands unaffected by the scandal - Red Star, made in China's northeast, and the U.S.-based Wyeth Nutrition. They cost nearly five times what Sanlu milk cost.
"When we bought them, we were told these had passed quality tests," Liao said as her husband measured out milk powder. "We still feed them milk because without milk, she would be crying."
Zhang Xue hungrily gulped a bottle before settling down to play with a ball on the concrete floor of the family's home, where bright yellow summer corn lay drying in the front yard.
Her brother, brought over from his grandparent's house for a visit, leaned toward her. They smiled as their foreheads touched.
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Associated Press writers Chi-Chi Zhang and Xi Yue in Beijing and Robin McDowell in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
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译文:
牛奶丑闻 --- 一个中国家庭的对抗实录
作者：奥茱莉亚·安
美联社作家
2008年10月15日，在山东永安村的这个小家庭里，张鹏张雪姐弟俩的母亲廖善芳（左）在看着她的两个孩子，他们的父亲张荣威坐在旁边。两个小孩都因为喝了被污染的奶制品而患上肾结石。（图片来自美联社）
中国永安村（美联社报道）--潮湿闷热的八月，正是玉米抢收季节，张家十个月大的小儿子张鹏开始不愿喝奶，晚上也一阵接一阵地哭闹，难以入睡。随后他的姐姐张雪也病了。
他们的父母发现他俩排尿不正常，就多次带他俩就近到20英里外的医院看病。医生也看不出什么毛病，但还是给开了中药和针剂。
上个月，国内媒体披露了婴幼儿配方奶粉受三聚氰胺污染的事件，这是种用来生产塑料和化肥的一种化工原料。这个事件已经导致了全国多个婴幼儿患病。
这个消息让张家震惊了，随后的一个月，张家父母多次带着孩子往返于自家和450英里以外的北京某医院。
这个星期，美联社的记者对位于中国东部玉米产区的这个简朴的家庭进行了采访，孩子的母亲廖善芳说：“我们不知道出什么事了，我们很害怕，很担心。”
“就连我们看到奶粉被污染的新闻后，我们也不敢相信就真的落到了我们家里。我们从没想到事情会是现在这个样子。”
这是中国数年来最严重的一次食品安全危机，众多家长们把医院的急诊室都挤满了。据卫生部透露，五万多儿童已经接受了肾脏疾病的治疗和检查，近六千儿童仍在住院治疗。已有四例死亡病例和污染牛奶有关系。
专家说，长时间和三聚氰胺接触所导致的对人体的长期影响目前尚未开展研究，但是婴幼儿是最容易受到伤害的。
“孩子们的免疫系统都很薄弱，神经系统也在发育之中，”澳大利亚默多克大学的毒理研究专家皮特·丁格尔说，“他们身体内不像成年人那样具有可以分解和排泄这种毒素的生化结构。”
九月中旬，污染牛奶事件已经爆发，廖善芳和她丈夫张荣威再次带着他们的双胞胎来到了临沂一家地方医院。
这次，男孩张鹏住院观察了五天，被确诊为肾结石，但是他的情况开始恶化。他开始呕吐，而且当他能够排尿的时候，也只能排出极少的带血丝的尿液。他姐姐的症状没有这么严重，只是时不时会发高烧。
从出生开始，姐弟俩就同时喝着母乳和婴幼儿配方乳。张家开始用的是便宜的牛奶品牌，小孩喝了开始腹泻，后来他们换了三鹿公司出产的奶粉，价格涨为原来的两倍多。
三鹿集团是首个和奶粉丑闻有瓜葛的公司，9月11号三鹿宣布其奶源受到污染，之后中国政府确定此次污染事件波及范围广泛。牛奶供应商们涉嫌不道德地向牛奶中添加三聚氰胺，从而使兑水的牛奶在质检时呈现较高的蛋白质含量。
“奶粉公司的这些人没有良心，只知道赚钱，”廖善芳气愤地说，“我只是觉得很失望，政府本来应该采取些措施来保护人民的利益。”
虎头虎脑的张家姐弟俩，本来胖乎乎的又健康又可爱。姐姐张雪喜欢边咬指头边笑，笑的时候露着两颗小门牙。弟弟张鹏没有姐姐那么爱笑，但是好奇心却很强。到了九月份，这两个宝宝都因病而变得无精打采了。
由于临沂的医生已感到无能为力，他们叫张家人去北京寻求治疗。
夫妇俩匆匆买了个车票—大概300块，一笔不小的开支—到了首都儿童医院，时间已是9月23号。
几小时后，张鹏被确诊为有两个大的肾结石，需要手术。他姐姐有一个米粒大小的结石—没有严重到要住院治疗。
“听医生说到张鹏的情况，我心都不跳了，”廖善芳说。
没有办法，一家人只得分开。孩子也得分开。夫妻俩把姐姐带回了老家放到奶奶那里，然后又赶回北京，在接下来的三个星期里，夫妇俩晚上就睡在离医院一个小时车程的亲戚家里。
虽然在中央政府的政策下，北京的治疗是免费的，但是北京之行不是没有损失的。收玉米的重担都压在张荣威的父亲身上。每次从他们村里去北京路上都要花近十个小时。
在收成好的年份，夫妇俩年收入会到1300美元左右，廖善芳算了一下，他们在北京的那些日子家里共花了七八千块钱，这个期间张荣威还不能干活，他们的损失就更多了。
夫妇俩已经有一个11岁的女儿，没想到下一胎会一下生两个，如何承受这意外的负担，本来就让夫妇俩操心。在中国农村，按计划生育的政策，他们可以再生一个孩子。但是最后生了两个。
夫妇俩除了种地以外，为了贴补家用，张荣威还到处打零工，修地板，盖房子，开摩的等。看孩子的任务就交给了张荣威的父亲，张爸爸在小鹏鹏7个月大的时候就开始带他。32岁的廖善芳就照看张雪和11岁的姐姐。
尽管这几周来姐弟俩的遭遇让人心酸，但是这对快一岁的双胞胎现在慢慢恢复了。张鹏在周一办理了出院手续；他的姐姐还在按一个老中医开的药方也在进行治疗。
两个小孩现在喝的还是牛奶，但只喝没有涉及牛奶丑闻的品牌—红星，产于中国东北部，还有美国产的惠氏营养米粉。这些花在奶粉上的价格已经是三鹿的5倍了。
“现在我们买奶粉的时候，别人都会告诉我们这些通过了质检”廖说，她丈夫正给孩子煮奶粉。“我们现在还是给他们喝牛奶，因为不喝牛奶，姐姐会哭闹。”
张雪在下地玩积木之前，喝完了一瓶牛奶，夏天收来的玉米在前院里金灿灿的。她弟弟从爷爷奶奶家抱来看姐姐，朝姐姐爬过去，俩人额头碰额头，又笑哈哈的了。