BEIJING (AP) -- Public health authorities in northwest China are investigating a brand of baby formula after 14 babies who drank it developed kidney stones, a state news agency said Wednesday.
The babies were being treated at the No. 1 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, after they began vomiting and were unable to urinate, Xinhua News Agency said.
A man from the news office of the hospital, who refused to give his name as is common among Chinese officials, said there were no doctors available for comment.
The news agency said the babies were from the remote countryside and had developed the problems in the past two months.
The babies' parents said their infants drank the same brand of powdered milk, which is cheaper than others on the market, Xinhua said. The report did not name the brand or manufacturer.
The provincial Public Health Bureau told Xinhua that it was investigating whether the baby formula was linked to the kidney stone cases.
China suffers from rampant counterfeiting of food and medicines. In 2004, more than 200 infants suffered malnutrition after drinking phony formula in the eastern province of Anhui. At least 12 babies died from drinking it and other brands of fake formulas.
