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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

It’s the Scary Season – Stories about Tainted Halloween Candy in MO Abound

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Monday, October 6, 2008   

St. Louis, MO – There's a pre-Halloween candy scare for Missouri. Cadbury's and a couple of other U.S. companies have recalled seasonal candies because they may be contaminated with tainted milk powder from China. The chemical melamine in the powder has made more than 50,000 sick in China, mostly babies. In this country, the FDA has warned that more recalls are expected in the coming weeks.

Kathleen Logan Smith with the Missouri Coalition for the Environment says this brings a whole new concern to candy safety for kids this Halloween.

"Instead of worrying about poisoning apples, we have to worry about the milk powder that's in the chocolate candy that's never been opened by a crazy person."

Smith says parents mistakenly believe all food, ingredients and consumer goods from other countries and this country are safety-tested, but regulators have not been given adequate authority or resources to do that.

"I think we've had enough experience with poisoned pet food and E. coli to know that the government really has dropped the ball on food safety."

The FDA says their own scientific review shows that small amounts of melamine may not be toxic to adults. Chinese manufacturers are accused of adding melamine to milk powder to make it appear the protein content is up to par. A similar situation involving melamine added to pet food was linked to the deaths of hundreds of animals nationwide last year.


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