Milk threat an evil formula

Eva Bradley Photo/File

There are seminal moments in all of our lives that are so significant and surprising that we will always remember exactly what we were doing when they happened.

Ask anyone where they were when news broke about the attack on New York's Twin Towers and you will get told the sort of vivid detail that the passing of time won't dim.

Romantic monarchists like me have the same detailed memories of hearing about Princess Diana's death. Musos felt it for Kurt Cobain.

Now I can add to my memory bank of "most shocking moments" the heart-stopping instant when I learned that infant formula may have been laced with 1080 poison.

What was I doing? Sitting on the couch listening to Radio New Zealand National while giving my baby a bottle of infant milk formula.

As I digested the information while my son was rapidly digesting the formula, I looked into his big, blue, innocent eyes so full of trust and wrenched the bottle from him.

Irrational but understandable thoughts flooded my mind - had I just fed my son deadly poison? Would he soon start frothing at the mouth and die?

Fortunately, my years as a journalist taught me that truth lies somewhere between the headlines designed to instil terror and the overly-optimistic reassurances of officialdom - in this case, the Government and police.

Perhaps I am naive - or else I am just too practical - but after a bit of tuning in, I decided to opt for calm over chaos, so I picked up my son's bottle and continued to feed him.

Surely if Big Brother from the Ministry of Truth says infant formula is safe, then it is, right?

Frighteningly, only time will tell. In the meantime, I carefully check my formula tins and carry on with baby business as usual.

But having looked at the conversation threads on various Facebook and news websites, it seems many mothers are not so pragmatic or trusting. Some are in a fearful lather and appear to be ignoring the real and proven risk of giving babies cow's milk instead of the (apparently) managed and unlikely risk of poisoned formula.

So, regardless of whether the person who threatened Fonterra meant to carry through on their blackmail, the reality is that already some babies are suffering as a result.

Those still getting formula now have dads going about town with milk moustaches as they execute their new role as food tasters.

The issue has made me wonder about the sort of person who would make such a threat. My conclusion is that they are one of two types: either profoundly stupid (for not anticipating the devastating economic and social impacts of their actions) or profoundly evil.

Evil is not a word to use lightly.

I take some comfort in the knowledge that the letter writer could not spell the name of New Zealand's third largest company so is even less likely to be able to bypass significant new security measures put in place to keep milk powder safe.

Even so, it is yet another example of the self-absorption dominating the 21st century.

In the same way that there is a new and ugly emergence of religious intolerance, there are people now who care little about the safety and rights of others as long as their own particular wants are met.

Someone out there clearly believes that the lives of introduced animals are more valuable than a human life and, regardless of whether they ever make good on their threat, that in itself is a tragedy.