Wyeth: No sickness, injury reported from recalled milk

Wyeth Philippines on Wednesday said that apart from "rust spots on the outside rims" of its milk cans, "no sickness or injury had been reported to Wyeth" resulting from consumption of its products that the Bureau of Food and Drugs had ordered to be recalled. In an "official statement" faxed to GMANews.TV, Wyeth said it received on June 20 a notice from the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) "for a product recall concerning our products that were affected in June 2006 following typhoon Milenyo." "Some cans had rust spots on the outside rims," Wyeth said. "On July 26, 2006," Wyeth said, "a routine inspection by Wyeth at its Canlubang warehouse showed that some cans had minute rust specks on the outer rim." "Products earlier shipped to the market were also inspected and few units were retrieved for cosmetic reasons," it said. Nonetheless, Wyeth it said, "tests conducted by Wyeth showed that the milk powder inside the affected cans was not compromised and the integrity of the milk powder was maintained." "No sickness or injury had been reported to Wyeth from the affected products," it added. "Wyeth reported this to BFAD." BFAD in turn "conducted inspections in April and May 2007 "of Wyeth's manufacturing facility and records of Wyeth's initial investigation." "Based on the BFAD audit," Wyeth said, "there was no specific health risk identified at that time." "On June 19, 2007, BFAD issued a product recall for specific lots of Wyeth products manufactured from May 23, 2006 to July 26,2006," the statement said. The firm assured that it is "working diligently with BFAD and is complying with BFAD's recall order." Wyeth, it added, "will accept the products covered by the order and replace these." The firm said it wants to assure the public that "the health and safety of infants and young children are our primary concern." - GMANews.TV