Melamine made headlines in 2008 when thousands of Chinese babies had to be hospitalized after being given formula adulterated with the chemical. The previous year had seen widespread recalls of pet food that sickened or killed many dogs and cats. This was also contaminated with melamine. In the U.S., melamine is used in manufacturing plastic dishes, cooking utensils and industrial coatings.
Researchers in Taiwan conducted an experiment to determine if the compound gets into food served in such tableware. A dozen young healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to eat their breakfast soup from a plastic or ceramic bowl. Their urine over the next 12 hours was collected and analyzed. Those eating from melamine-based bowls had about 8 times more melamine in their urine. No one knows, however, if chronic exposure to such a small amount of this chemical would pose a health risk.
[JAMA Internal Medicine, online, Jan. 21, 2013]
The People's Perspective on Medicine