Tainted Baby Formula Kills 2 in China

Two Chinese babies have died, 53 are in serious condition and 1,253 others are sick from widespread milk powder contamination, the New York Times reports. The baby formula laced with melamine—the same additive behind last year’s US pet-food recall—was recalled just last week by Sanlu Group, though parents have been complaining since March.

Inspectors have started a safety probe of dairy farms, but say the tainting likely happened at processing centers. Officials arrested two brothers today for allegedly adding the banned toxic, which makes products seem to have more protein, to diluted milk. As in the past, China's "first inclination was to try and put a towel over it," New Zealand’s prime minister says. (More China stories.)