Unicef lauds government move to recall Wyeth milk products

Company exec says rust, mold a ‘packaging issue’ By Tina Santos, Tarra Quismundo, Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
Inquirer
Last updated 10:39pm (Mla time) 06/20/2007

MANILA, Philippines — The United Nations Children’s Fund on Wednesday welcomed the move of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) to recall millions of cans of infant formula products of a multinational company following reports they could be contaminated.

 

“It’s a reassuring sign that that the Department of Health is being vigilant in making sure that the products for infants are rigorously monitored,” said Dale Rutstein, chief communications officer of Unicef Philippines.

 

“It’s a healthy sign that the government is doing its job,” he added. “Milk products should really be intensively and intrusively monitored for product quality and safety.”

 

The BFAD ordered on Tuesday the recall of Wyeth products — Bona, Promil Kid, Promil and Progress Gold — manufactured from May 23 to July 26, 2006.

 

The recall order came the same day that the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether to allow health officials to impose stringent measures against what they say are aggressive advertising by foreign milk companies which has many women believing infant formula is better than mother’s milk.

 

BFAD deputy director Joshua Ramos said up to 4.3 million units of the infant formulas Bona, Promil, Promil Kid and Progress Gold may have been contaminated last year in warehouses after exposure to the elements. A unit is defined as being a can or a carton.

 

Wyeth had reported to the bureau that only 2.5 million units were affected.

 

Wyeth medical director Nerissa Calimon said that close to 1.29 million of the affected products had been released and carried in supermarkets and drugstores nationwide.

But the company said tests it conducted showed that “the milk powder inside the affected cans was not compromised and the integrity of the milk powder was maintained.”

 

“Let me reassure parents throughout the Philippines that the Wyeth infant formula products your children are receiving are of the highest quality,” Calimon said in a press conference held on Wednesday, or some 11 months after the company first learned of the problem.

 

Asked how many the company took back when it learned of the problem, Calimon said: 279. She said only these units — which showed “specks of rust” — were classified as subject to recall from the market.

 

Ramos said Wyeth has selectively withdrawn contaminated milk units and destroyed them but has yet to reply to the department’s questions on their count of affected units and whether they have ensured that milk remaining in the market is safe.

 

Health Undersecretary Alexander Padilla also took Wyeth to task for allegedly concealing the contamination until after the bureau found out about it on its own.

 

“They should have admitted to it and they should have recalled all their products publicly and made a report,” he added.

 

Ramos said Wyeth only reported the contamination to the bureau after word of it spread on the Internet. “It was only an afterthought when they declared it to us,” Ramos said.

 

Calimon said an audit report of the BFAD “did not indicate a specific health risk.”

 

“Our investigations showed that the products covered under the product recall do not present a health risk… It was a purely packaging issue,” she said.

 

Asked to comment on the worries of many parents who bought and consumed the affected products, Ramos said they should “report immediately to us if they feel something unusual.”

 

He said those who had complaints or reports may call the BFAD at (02)842-5606.

Consumers may call Wyeth through 81-Wyeth (819-9384) for their concerns, Calimon said.

Wyeth: Rust only outside milk cans but contents safe

By Tarra Quismundo, Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
Inquirer
Last updated 04:01am (Mla time) 06/21/2007

MANILA, Philippines — Multinational giant Wyeth on Wednesday called on consumers to continue trusting its infant formula products, saying the rust and mold that prompted a recall of millions of units of some of its products were “a packaging issue.”

 

“Let me reassure parents throughout the Philippines that the Wyeth infant formula products your children are receiving are of the highest quality,” Wyeth medical director Nerissa Calimon said in a press conference held Wednesday, or 11 months after the company first learned of the problem.

 

In a statement, Wyeth promised to comply with the order of the Bureau of Food and Drugs to recall from the market millions of cans of its Bona, Promil Kid, Promil and Progress Gold products.

 

The company said tests it had conducted showed that “the milk powder inside the affected cans was not compromised and the integrity of the milk powder was maintained.”

 

Asked to comment on the worries of many parents who had bought the affected products, BFAD Deputy Director Joshua Ramos said the parents should “report immediately to us if they feel something unusual.”

 

He said those who have complaints or reports may call the BFAD at (02)842-5606.

 

Consumers may call Wyeth through 81-Wyeth (819-9384) for their concerns, Calimon said.

 

Moisture

 

Calimon, a doctor, said that on July 26, 2006, Wyeth learned that some 2.5 million of its canned and boxed products had been exposed to moisture on wooden pallets in its warehouse in Canlubang, Laguna, causing some lids to rust and cartons to moisten.

 

The BFAD ordered on Tuesday the recall of the specific Wyeth products manufactured from May 23 to July 26, 2006.

 

Calimon said these amounted to some 2 million cans and carton packages, of which close to 1.29 million had been released and carried in supermarkets and drugstores nationwide.

 

Asked how many the company took back when it learned of the problem, Calimon said: 279. She said only these units — which showed “specks of rust” — were classified as subject to recall from the market.

 

The recalled products have been destroyed and “corrective measures” have been initiated to prevent the problem from recurring at the plant, she said.

 

There was, however, no way of knowing whether any of the products from among the affected units were still in the market, or had been bought but were yet to be consumed.

 

‘No health risk’

 

“Our investigations showed that the products covered under the product recall do not present a health risk … It was a purely packaging issue,” Calimon said.

 

She said an audit report of the BFAD “did not indicate a specific health risk.”

 

She added: “The current situation is a packaging issue confined to the exterior of the containers [of products manufactured within the time frame]. The high quality of the milk powder was maintained … As part of the recall, we plan to replace any product manufactured during the time frame to your total satisfaction.”

 

To prove her point, Calimon demonstrated how rust from a milk can’s outer rim could not have contaminated the product it held. She poured water over a closed can, dried it, then opened it to show that the liquid did not permeate even the aluminum seal, a secondary packaging layer under the lid.

 

Calimon said that even when moist, a boxed Wyeth product was also contamination-safe because the product was held in an airtight foil package.

 

“The foil is triple-layer, so it prevents any penetration. Even if you step on it, the integrity of the product is not affected. The foil is intact even if it is stepped on,” Calimon said, stepping on a milk sachet to demonstrate the packaging strength.

 

While Wyeth has yet to announce the recall procedure, Calimon recommended that consumers check the manufacturing date of the products they had bought to determine whether these were produced within the time frame in question.

 

The manufacturing date is found at the bottom of milk cans or on top of boxed products.

 

Cease and desist

 

In its statement, Wyeth said it had not received any complaint of sickness or injury resulting from the affected products.

 

But some BFAD officials told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that they had learned of several complaints that Wyeth considered invalid.

 

The recall order means that Wyeth should “cease and desist from selling” the affected products “until there is proof that the contents are safe,” Ramos said.

 

He said Wyeth would have “to prove that the mold has not permeated [the containers and contaminated the contents].”

 

“We want to err on the side of caution,” Ramos also said in explaining the recall order, which could cost Wyeth a huge loss in profit.

 

Referring to reports that Wyeth had used some of the affected products for animal feed, he said this could also pose risks, especially if the products would turn out to be contaminated.

 

The BFAD said in the recall order that the affected products presented “a risk of illness or injury” and that the bureau’s action was “necessary or advisable to protect public health and welfare.”

 

It said the health risk that the affected products could pose was classified as “reversible,” meaning it could be treated.

 

4.3 million cans

 

Ramos said that while Wyeth said in a letter to the BFAD in April that only 2.5 million cans were affected, the bureau’s own accounting — based on the company’s logbooks –showed there could be more than 4.3 million cans in question.

 

He said not all stocks of the four brands were affected, but only those belonging to several production batches manufactured between May 23 and July 26 last year.

 

Wyeth volunteered the information on the rusting cans in its letter to the BFAD. But earlier on, reports were circulating in the Internet and caught the attention of the Department of Health.

 

Wyeth said it discovered the problem during a routine quality check at its Canlubang warehouse on July 26, 2006.

 

The inspection showed that “some cans had minute rust specks on the outer rim,” it said, adding:

 

“Products earlier shipped to the market were also inspected and a few units were retrieved for cosmetic reasons.”

 

In the same letter, Wyeth told the BFAD it had destroyed 140,000 cans and had tested samples to prove the contents were safe.

 

As many as 172 production batches are affected, and Ramos said the sampling procedure as described in Wyeth’s letter was “not representative” of the lots and “not statistically acceptable.”

 

He said the BFAD would issue a public health advisory in leading newspapers to list the affected lots, and that Wyeth should issue its own advisory as part of its “corporate responsibility.”

 

Vigilance

 

The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) Wednesday welcomed the BFAD’s recall order.

 

“It’s a reassuring sign that the Department of Health is being vigilant in making sure that the products for infants are rigorously monitored,” said Dale Rutstein, chief communications officer of Unicef Philippines.

 

“It’s a healthy sign that the government is doing its job. Milk products should really be intensively and intrusively monitored for product quality and safety,” he added. With a report from Tina G. Santos

Gov’t recalls Wyeth infant formula cans

By Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
Inquirer
Last updated 07:24am (Mla time) 06/20/2007

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) has ordered the recall of millions of cans of infant formula products of a multinational company following reports that the cans were rusting and could be contaminated.

 

It was not clear, however, if the contents were contaminated because the BFAD had not received an answer from Wyeth Philippines, a US-based company.

 

But to be sure, the bureau is recalling about 2.5 million cans of infant formula brands Bona, Promil Kid, Promil and Progress Gold from the market, though it is still awaiting an official declaration from Wyeth on the exact number of affected cans, its deputy director, Joshua Ramos, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

 

Ramos said that what the BFAD was recalling were only certain “batches of production” and not all of the brands.

 

“We are not saying all of the brands are affected. There are only specific batches of production,” he said. The specific batches are reflected in the date of manufacture.

 

Ramos said the BFAD would release a “public health advisory” identifying the batches of production to be recalled.

 

Last year, the Department of Health received reports of rust on the containers of infant formula products and requested the BFAD to conduct an investigation, Health Undersecretary for Regulations Alexander Padilla told the Inquirer.

 

The contamination on the exterior of the cans was in the form of molds, according to the report received by the DoH.

BABY-FRIENDLY

Filipina mothers breastfeed their newborn babies at the Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila, one of the leading baby-friendly government hospitals. Multinational milk companies are questioning before the Supreme Court the legality of a government regulation restricting the marketing of infant formula in the Philippines. AFP/ROMEO GACAD

Comelec team retrieves controversial CoCs from Maguindanao

By Nikko Dizon
Inquirer
Last updated 10:53pm (Mla time) 06/20/2007

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) fact-finding team led by Chairman Benjamin Abalos, Sr. obtained on Wednesday copies of the municipal certificates of canvass from Maguindanao that could lead to a vote recount in the province.

 

But it would still be a heart stopping week-long wait for Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri who are battling it out for the 12th senatorial slot. The Comelec en banc would decide next week whether to reconstitute a special provincial board of canvassers to re-tabulate the controversial Maguindanao votes.

 

“We will submit our report, maybe this afternoon. It’s a very simple report. By Tuesday at best, we would have resolved the issue on whether we would reconstitute the PBoC,” Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos, Sr. said in a press conference here.

 

“Hopefully, we meet the June 30 deadline,” Abalos said, referring to the day when the terms of office of 12 senators would expire and the newly elected 12 would take their oath.

 

Lawyers of the Genuine Opposition and TEAM Unity tangled over the authenticity of the MCoCs, which showed zero votes for several senatorial candidates, just like the one reflected on the controversial provincial certificate of canvass brought by provincial election supervisor, Lintang Bedol, to Manila last month.

 

Abalos said the Comelec “was satisfied that we found something.”

 

“As to their authenticity, it will be the PBoC which would determine this, not us,” Abalos said referring to the Comelec en banc.

 

Abalos and Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, who heads Task Force Maguindanao, presided over the hearing.

 

Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, who is in-charge of the region, was supposed to join the task force but decided at the last minute to proceed to Lanao del Sur where special elections were being held.

 

Submitted to Abalos and Ferrer were MCoCs from 21 of the 22 towns of Maguindanao Wednesday afternoon.

 

Only the election officer from Maguindanao’s South Upi was not able to attend Wednesday’s hearing because the official was assigned to North Cotabato.

 

Abalos and Ferrer brought the ballot box containing the MCoCs to Manila Wednesday afternoon.

 

The two witnessed the placing of these documents inside the ballot box and then signed the seals.

 

The election officers were apparently tense and anxious as they waited for Abalos and Ferrer to begin the hearing at around 10 am.

 

Police with long firearms stood guard outside the function hall near the hotel where the hearing was held while a handful of Zubiri’s supporters rallied across the street as early as 8:30 am, urging the Comelec to count the Maguindanao votes.

 

“Respect the Muslim votes!” and “No to disenfranchisement!” their placards read.

 

“The purpose of our coming here is simply a fact-finding mission to determine if the documents to be given to us are authentic on their face or if these are material for the purpose of the Comelec en banc in deciding the issue of the Maguindanao elections with respect to the national candidates, namely for senators and partylist,” Ferrer said as the hearing began.

 

One by one, the election officers were called, and they handed their municipal CoCs and the statements of votes.

 

Most of the municipal CoCs submitted to Abalos and Ferrer were second copies of the MCoCs from their respective towns. The second copies were the ones supposedly posted outside the election precincts following the municipal canvassing.

 

Abalos and Ferrer inspected the documents, then placed them on a long, narrow table to allow the GO and TU lawyers, including those of Zubiri’s, as well as the media to view the CoCs.

 

Leila de Lima, counsel for senator-elect Alan Peter Cayetano, looked irked after seeing the documents.

 

“The results are still statistically improbable. There are still zero votes. Those documents were newly manufactured. This is revolting,” de Lima told reporters after inspecting the documents.

 

Over the weekend, GO chief lawyer, Sixto Brillantes, warned the Comelec about manufactured election documents.

 

De Lima said she noticed that the printed names in the municipal CoCs were in the same handwriting.

 

She explained that she expected the election officers to submit the fourth copy of the CoC, which were supposed to be the document officially in their possession as the chairman of each municipal board of canvassers.

 

The first copies were the ones lost by Bedol, de Lima said, while the third copy was suppposed to be turned over to the Comelec.

 

“The Comelec said they were looking for documents in the possession of the election officers. It should have been the fourth copy,” de Lima said, stressing that this would be the way to guarantee that the documents were authentic.

 

De Lima said she asked the election officers where the fourth copies were. “Their faces were blank and they looked scared,” she said.

 

Election officers told reporters Bedol asked them to turn over the fourth copy of the CoCs to him last May 28 for safekeeping.

 

The following day, the documents got “stolen” as reported by Bedol to the Comelec.

 

But election officers Maceda Abu and Estelita Orbase insisted that the second copies of the municipal CoCs were authentic.

 

“That’s the genuine copy,” Abu, who is assigned in Datu Piang, said. Orbase of Shariff Aguak said elections did take place in Maguindanao, contrary to allegations that none took place.

 

“I even saw the mayor voting,” Orbase said.

 

TEAM Unity’s Romulo Macalintal saw no problem with the second copy of the CoC being presented to the Comelec fact finding mission.

 

“These are authentic documents, I am sure. Of course, they (opposition) will say that these are not authentic because the results are not in their favor,” Macalintal told reporters in Filipino.

 

Zubiri would win over Pimentel by a little over 17,000 votes if the Maguindanao results were tabulated.

 

In a phone interview, Zubiri told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that considering 21 of the 22 municipal CoCs were “delivered” on Wednesday to the Comelec, “it is a sign that democracy is alive and well in Maguindanao.”

 

“I hope that this would put closure to the 12th spot in the senatorial race and the votes would be added to my score,” he said.

 

Nonetheless, Zubiri added he would accept whatever would be decided on the Maguindanao votes.

 

“I’m not desperate for the post like other candidates,” he said.

 

Zubiri added that if the Maguindanao provincial CoC would be excluded, he would “respect the decision of the Comelec” and would take a “long break from politics.”

 

For his part, Pimentel on Tuesday told the Inquirer he was not dispatching his lawyers to General Santos, saying he “was not recognizing the proceedings” here.

 

Pimentel said that he would file on Thursday his petition asking the Supreme Court to prohibit the Comelec from canvassing the figures the poll body found in the source documents submitted to the fact finding team.

Elders still a factor in Benguet politics

By Delmar Cariño
Inquirer
Last updated 06:18am (Mla time) 06/20/2007

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – By tradition, Benguet’s elders are not kingmakers. Neither are they supposed to be politically active. But their wisdom have always made them politically relevant and no local politician can afford to dispense with their presence.

 

Board Member Joseph Cosente, 70, said ignoring elders and their blessings would make a candidate look bad. “To do so would be culturally disrespectful,” he said.

 

“That’s why local politicians always find time to consult the elders in their respective villages before deciding to run for public office, especially if it is their first time,” he said.

 

The elders embody a tradition of counsel from the old whose life had been tested, he added.

 

Cosente, whose politics is marked by his closeness to the mambunong (native priest), is just one of local politicians who admitted they consulted the elders during this year’s elections.

 

Take the case of Mankayan Mayor Manalo Galuten, 73, and Kibungan Mayor Murphy Paayas, 74. They are the oldest local executives in the province. Yet when they decided to run for reelection on May 14, they said they still had to knock on the doors of elders despite their age and political experience.

 

Blessings

 

Consulting the elders, most often the nanakay (male elders), is to seek their blessings for one’s political ambition, Paayas said.

 

Galuten was more candid. “The candidate would learn from the elders if he is fit to become a public servant,” he said.

 

Dave Molitas, a dzWT radio announcer who ran as councilor in Kibungan town, agreed. So did Benguet Rep. Samuel Dangwa, Vice Gov. Crescencio Pacalso, Kapangan Mayor Rogelio Leon, Tuba Councilor and Vice Mayor-elect Valentino Carantes and Board Member Juan Nazarro Jr.

 

Courtesy call

 

“The bottom line of consulting the elders is to be blessed with a good start for the campaign. It is also some sort of a courtesy call on them,” said Board Member Sario Copas, a Kankanaey and chair of the provincial board’s committee on indigenous peoples.

 

“Kalien da ida ta say ilaen mo way lawa sin pantagtagan uno ta say mayat di panrubwatan (We talk to the elders to find out if there are problems on one’s political ambition or to start one’s candidacy on the right foot),” said Copas, 43.

 

Indeed, the election results showed that the elders’ blessings were not always a ticket to victory.

 

Galuten, who had consulted elders since he began his political career in 1968, won his second term as mayor while Paayas lost his reelection bid.

 

Copas lost in his bid to be Buguias town’s new mayor, a defeat he took graciously despite serving as board member for three consecutive terms.

 

Talking to the elders need not be formal or marked with a ritual where animals are butchered, Cosente said. He said a simple gathering with elders would be an acceptable opportunity for one to express his political ambitions.

 

He said he talked to elders for each of the three terms that he ran and won as mayor of Tublay town from 1988 to 1998. He later became a board member.

 

In the latest election, however, Cosente’s luck ran out and he lost in his bid to become mayor anew. “Talking to elders and winning the votes are different,” he said.

 

But the tradition will go on, said Dr. Eufronio Pungayan, an ethno-linguist who teaches at the Saint Louis University in Baguio City.

 

“Seeking the elders for one’s political dream will remain a tradition,” he said.

 

Modern elections speak of political machinery, capital and the so-called command votes. But in Benguet, the elders will always be there, he said.

Outgoing Iloilo vice mayor to continue aiding mentally ill

By David Israel Sinay
Visayas Bureau
Last updated 03:20pm (Mla time) 06/20/2007

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — This government official may be retiring from politics for good by the end of June but he vowed to continue addressing the needs of mentally ill persons roaming this city’s streets.

 

“I have reached the end of my political career. But I still have projects to continue,” said 79-year-old Iloilo City Vice Mayor Guillermo Dela Llana.

 

Dela Llana is the man behind Iloilo City’s Task Force for Mentally-ill Persons.

 

He had worked for the construction of a P1.7-million rehabilitation facility for people with mental disorders. It now has 29 patients.

 

Dela Llana, a dentist, said he has been extending assistance to the mentally ill of the city even before he joined politics.

 

“I don’t know for certain when I started to love and care for them, but I did,” he said.

 

Dela Llana first served as city councilor in 1988 and, after 10 years, was elected vice mayor in 1998.

 

He lost his bid for mayor in 2001 against incumbent Mayor Jerry Treñas but in 2004 decided to team up with his erstwhile rival and won again as vice mayor.

 

Dela Llana, however, credited Treñas for the city’s progress.

 

“[Had I become mayor] I [could never have brought] the city of Iloilo [to where it is now],” said Dela Llana.

 

He explained that he did not seek reelection last May 14 because he is no longer interested in politics.

 

Dela Llana admitted, however, that he felt sad leaving because he would no longer be with “the group I have learned to love,” referring to Treñas and other city officials he had worked with, especially in the city council that he had led for the last three years.

 

“Imagine, you leave the group at the height of its power,” he said.

 

Before the city’s facility for mental illness was built, Dela Llana said he would send patients rescued from the streets to the Pototan Mental Hospital [now, Regional Mental Health Center] using his own resources.

 

“When I joined politics, caring for them was my priority, and I never asked for any support from the local government unit. It was only in 1995 when then Mayor Rodolfo Ganzon extended P200,000 financial support after he saw the beauty and success of my undertaking,” Dela Llana recalled with a smile.

 

Under Treñas, the city government allots an annual budget for the project.

 

“As long as I live, I will dedicate my life to the program. I will always have time for it,” De Lallana said.

 

Dela Llana estimated that he had helped some 5,000 mentally ill patients already.

 

The outgoing vice mayor said he has nine children, 21 grand children and two great grand children to keep him alert.