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[BEIJING, 27 December 2008] - A group of Chinese dairy companies accused of selling tainted milk that sickened tens of thousands of babies has agreed to compensate the victims, the state media announced on Saturday. China’s Dairy Industry Association, a group of 22 milk producers, said it would provide one-time payments to the families of the children who were sickened or who died after consuming milk tainted with melamine, a chemical compound that is often used in the production of plastics and fertilizers. “The enterprises offered to shoulder the compensation liability,” the association said, according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency. “By doing so, they hope to earn understanding and forgiveness of the families of the sickened children.” As part of its promised compensation package, the dairy association said, it would also pay for the long-term health care needs of affected children. “If the babies suffer from relative aftereffects, all medical fees will be covered by the fund,” the association said, according to Xinhua. Six children died, and nearly 300,000 were sickened. The report by Xinhua did not indicate the amount of compensation or when the payments would be made. It is unclear how the promise of compensation may affect a series of lawsuits brought by the families of the victims. None of the lawsuits have been accepted by the courts. On Friday, six melamine producers and dealers in Henan Province went on trial on charges that they manufactured or sold the compound to milk producers. Until the scandal broke in September, melamine was frequently added to dairy products as a means of increasing the protein content of watered-down milk. Earlier this month, the government said that more than 800 children remained hospitalised with kidney stones and other ailments. This week the chairwoman of one of China’s biggest dairies, Sanlu Group, will face trial in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province, on charges that the company knowingly sold adulterated milk. Last week Sanlu was declared bankrupt. Sanlu, which is partly owned by a New Zealand dairy cooperative, stopped all milk production in September. On Saturday the government took on another delicate issue, shoddy construction, by creating stricter codes to make schools and other public buildings more resistant to earthquakes. An earthquake in May in Sichuan Province killed at least 88,000 people, many of them children who died in the rubble of poorly built schools. The regulations, passed by the National People’s Congress, imposes new requirements on both new and existing schools. They also cover hospitals and shopping centres. The rules, reported by Xinhua, were short on details and, like many national laws, would be carried out largely by local governments. Further information