Back home in India, nothing shocks us. Even government-run factories have been found to be hand-in-glove with anti-social elements from time to time.

Research by the Indian Dairy Association in Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh has strengthened the suspicion that synthetic milk producers are indulging in rampant adulteration of milk. This has serious health implications for children, according to Laxmi Narain Modi, managing trustee of the Delhi-based Bharatiya Cattle Resource Development Foundation (BCRDF).

Modi has gone on record in this matter at various fora, including press conferences. Adulterants that go into the making ofsynthetic milk are suspected to be urea, caustic soda, starch, sodium, sugar, hydroxide, gelatins and pesticide residue. Speaking to The Financial Express, Modi reaffirmed that he stood by his past statements. In fact, he provided more reports on the subject to substantiate his claims.

For BCRDF, the fight against adulterated milk is a national campaign. Large-scale adulteration can be attributed to the 200 per cent rise in milk production in the past couple of years. Surprisingly, in the same period, the cattle population in India has actually gone down by 2 per cent, according to a World Bank report.

Even if a part of the higher milk production can be attributed to the milk powder import under Operation Flood I and II, the whopping 200 per cent rise in milk production cannot be accounted for, says the BCRDF trustee. He has urged the Central and state governments to take a serious view of the matter and investigate the process of synthetic milk production in the country.

According to the BCRDF,Varmul dairy managing director C K Rai has conceded, on record, that over 90 per cent of milk in the Jodhpur region of Rajasthan has been found to be adulterated. The BCRDF has not only alerted the Central and several state governments in this regard, but also drawn the attention of major dairies and farms across the country to the dangers of synthetic milk. However, the governments have rarely responded pro-actively.

The human population in India has gone up from 430 million in 1961 to 900 million by 1995. At the same time, milch cow population has gone down from 54 million in 1961 to 27 million in 1995. There were only around four million cross-bred cows in the country in 1995. Therefore, high-yielding cows cannot account for the 200 per cent rise in milk production. Despite this drastic reduction in the milch cow population, milk production has risen from 10 million tonnes in 1961 to 30 million tonnes in 1995. This contradiction is a gaping hole in the claims of milk manufacturers.

Remember the dropsydeaths-the adulterated mustard oil crisis that left a trail of human deaths across the country in 1997-98? A situation like that is not a far cry if the adulteration of milk continues at this rate.

A study by the Ahmedabad-based Consumer Education and Research Society (CERS) reveals that milk in India-whether branded or non-branded-is dangerously adulterated. As many as 28 widely sold milk brands have been found to be containing bacterium having serious repercussions on human health.

The tested brands include Amul Taaza and Amul Shakti, Amul Gold, Gokul and Uttam, among a host of other popular brands, according to the CERS study.As many as 40 parameters on volume, anti-biotic residues, contaminants, microbiological contaminants, preservatives, nutrients, etc, were tested for on each brand, according to the study.

White for danger

Some of the findings regarding milk adulteration suggest that: