Recently several laboratories have reported the presence of three other compounds in the urine of animals fed melamine contaminated food. The three compounds included cyanuric acid, amilorine and amiloride. All three of these compounds are breakdown products of melamine, indicating that the melamine is being metabolized by the animals it is fed to. None of these chemicals is considered particularly toxic at the concentrations found in animal urine. Some investigators have noted that when melamine and cyanuric acid are combined they can result in crystal formation which is similar to that observed in the kidneys of affected animals.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_503671.html
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/22607/
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/01/recall.riddle/
However, this does not explain the spike in animal illnesses and deaths that occurred recently because, as the New York Times reported, Chinese farmers have been adding melamine to protein concentrates shipped to the United States for years. The outbreak in pets was acute, and did not appear to be due to chronic exposure to low levels of melamine.
As such, it still seems likely that other contaminants were being added to Chinese food products in recent months, and that these may have interacted with melamine and its breakdown products to cause kidney failure. What is clear from the information so far discovered is that the human food supply has definitely been contaminated with non-food chemicals originating in China. What is not known is what other possible contaminants were present, or how they might accumulate in people eating tainted meat, possibly leading to adverse health effects that may not show up for some time to come.
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