Paying a Heavy Price

The parents of one of the first children to die from drinking contaminated milk received compensation from Sanlu Group Co.

Yi Yongsheng and Jiao Hongfeng in Gangu County, Gansu Province, lost their five-month old son on May 1 last year after suffering kidney failure from the milk mixed with melamine.

The couple received 200,000 RMB ($29,000), in return for not suing the already bankrupt company.

The lawyers for the couple claim if they went to court, the most they could probably get is 200,000RMB, and that "legal procedures are too complicated for them, which made them decide to take the money".

One wonders if the lawyers were really working in the best interests of their clients, or someone told them the case wouldn't go anywhere and it was best to cut their losses now.

It seems Yi and Jiao are not educated people and the court procedure would be a difficult and overwhelming thing for them to go through.

If it had happened to a couple with tertiary education and were white-collar workers, they would probably try to go all the way through the courts to get some kind of justice and put everyone in the hot seat.

In the meantime, one hopes Yi and Jiao don't burn through that money too fast -- while the amount is a big number for them, it should represent the earnings their son would have made were he still alive.

However, it doesn't seem much and will never replace their little boy.

What is even scarier is wondering if all China's food producers will learn from this deadly mistake and not try to make a quick buck over killing people.

But methinks it will only be a matter of time before another scandal erupts again...