China couple first to take milk payout

BEIJING—The parents of a child killed by tainted milk powder in China became the first to accept compensation and give up the right to sue the company at the heart of the scandal, state press said Friday.

Yi Yongsheng and Jiao Hongfang accepted 200,000 yuan ($29,250) from the Sanlu Group over the death last year of their five-month-old son, Xinhua news agency said.

He is believed to be the first of at least six babies who died from milk tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, it said. Nearly 300,000 others were stricken with kidney and urinary problems.

Farmers and milk wholesalers have been tried for mixing melamine into watered-down milk to make the product appear richer in protein content. The chemical is normally used to manufacture plastics.

The head of Sanlu, Tian Wenhua, stood trial late last year. Verdicts have not been announced in any of the cases.

Sanlu and 21 other dairy companies that produced tainted milk have offered 200,000 yuan in compensation to the families whose children died, Xinhua said.

A 30,000 yuan payment was offered to the families of children who suffered kidney stones or acute kidney failure, and 2,000 yuan for less severe cases.

Xinhua said 3,000 families living in the city of Shijiazhuang, where Sanlu is located, have accepted compensation for their sick infants.

A fund has also been set up to treat the children until they reach 18 years of age.

But some parents have complained that the compensation is too little, and have called for money to be put aside to carry out research into the long-term effects of melamine on the children.

So far no lawsuits against the milk companies have been accepted by the nation's courts, although the government maintains that the victims have a right to sue for damages, Xinhua said.

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