Fourteen babies from country areas of Gansu Province are suffering from kidney stones after drinking a particular brand of milk powder.

The first baby turned up with the symptoms on June 28, said Li Wenhui, a urologist at No.1 Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu.

Another eight-month-old baby was taken to the hospital, one of twins, Lanzhou Morning Post reported yesterday. The father said the other twin had been diagnosed with kidney stones in August and had just been released from hospital after surgery.

The ages of the victims ranges from under six months to 11 months, according to the report.

The parents of the children all fed their babies with the same brand of milk powder. The milk powder sells well and is the first choice for young parents in these areas.

But the newspaper didn't name the brand. According to the report, the manager of the milk company's Lanzhou office said experts had been sent to investigate.

The youngest patient had been in a critical condition with blood potassium levels exceeding the norm by 50 percent and could have died at any minute, said the report.

Doctor Li said kidney stones rarely occur in infants.

The victims came from the counties of Wushan, Yongjing, Min, Yongdeng and Qin'an.

An earlier milk powder scandal in Fuyang, Anhui Province, killed at least 13 babies. Hundreds of other babies suffered from 'big head' disease, a condition stemming from malnutrition caused by inferior milk powder.

The scandal was uncovered in April 2004 and involved several companies, powder producers, wholesale dealers and officials in governments and supervisors.

(Shanghai Daily September 10, 2008)