Hong Kong: 10 arrested for possessing baby milk formula

A new law passed by Hong Kong restricts the amount of infant milk formula that people can take into China. Under the new rules, people leaving Hong Kong can only carry two cans of milk powder,  China Daily reported. 

But already, 10 people have been arrested for breaking the new rules. Eight Hong Kong locals and two Chinese mainlanders were arrested today for illegally taking 53 cans of milk powder out of Hong Kong,  the Global Times reported. 

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Why the new rules? People are accusing the mainland Chinese of buying all the infant formula in Hong Kong and causing major shortages. Near-riots have broken out over the difficulty of getting baby formula in Hong Hong,  the Los Angeles Times reported.

The mainlanders are buying Hong Kong formula because they are worried about the safety of the formula in China. And they have reason to be worried. In 2008, six babies died in China after drinking milk laced with the industrial chemical melamine.

But Hong Kong residents say it is getting nearly impossible to buy baby formula now, BBC News reported. "Every morning there are queues outside those shops," a father told the BBC. "We have to walk from this district to another district, from this pharmacy to another pharmacy… at least ten of them, and then we came back with just one can or none."