On June 18, the Economic Information Daily, a publication under Xinhua News Agency, published a report stating that multiple brands of infant diapers had tested positive for formamide in professional testing, and cited detection results from the Shandong Public Health Clinical Center on hundreds of infant blood and urine samples, claiming the detected levels were “sufficient to cause harm to the human body.” The report triggered widespread concern after its release. In the early morning of June 19, two statements circulated online, purportedly signed by the center and its specially invited expert Yu Zhaoyan, both claiming that they had never conducted the testing work mentioned in the report nor had they been interviewed by journalists from the Economic Information Daily. These statements quickly spread on social media platforms, casting doubt on the report’s authenticity. That same day, journalist Wang Wenzhi posted on Weibo, disclosing that Yu Zhaoyan’s statement was signed under “repeated pressure” from the institution’s leadership and was later deliberately leaked by internal personnel, adding that “there is audio evidence of the relevant situation.” Wang Wenzhi also claimed that the reporter had fully communicated with Yu Zhaoyan about the report’s content beforehand and that records were available for review.
This incident has become a typical case of dispute over news reporting: on one hand, the core fact of formamide detection in infants has yet to be verified by an independent institution; on the other hand, the method by which the statements were produced has itself become the focus of investigation. At present, the original report by the Economic Information Daily and the institutional statements are circulating simultaneously online, and a final judgment cannot be made on the basis of the existing publicly available information. The involved diaper brands, relevant regulatory authorities, and the Shandong Public Health Clinical Center have not yet released further official statements.
Economic Information Daily / Yangcheng Evening News | Journalist Wang Wenzhi