Dakar (Senegal): Senegal has banned imports of Chinese milk in what it called a preventative measure to keep tainted products from entering the West African country.

"We will not wait for this milk to arrive in Senegal to react," Oumou Khairy Gueye Seck, the minister in charge of animal husbandry, told reporters. Seck said she and her fellow ministers of health and commerce all signed the ban, which will stay in effect until further notice.

"To my knowledge, Senegal has not imported any Chinese milk, but we must take this measure to stay ahead of any danger," Seck told The Associated Press .

Seck said a committee will be created to oversee surveillance at Senegal s borders to assure that the questionable milk products do not enter the country.

Dozens of other countries worldwide have banned Chinese milk products amid a toxic chemical scare. Milk formula containing the industrial chemical melamine has been blamed for killing four infants and sickening more than 54,000 children in China since mid-September.
Source : PTI