Two men in China have been executed for their roles in the milk scandal late last year. The scandal involves the selling and consumption of milks tainted with melamine, a substance that led to the deaths of six babies and made 300,000 sick.

Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping were the men executed. Zhang was sentenced for endangering public safety by putting the melamine substance while Geng was executed for producing and selling the products to dairy products and the now defunct Sanlu Group.

Melamine is commonly used in coatings, laminates, wood adhesives, fabric coatings, ceiling tiles and flame-retardants. It was added in the dairy products so they would appear and pass quality and nutritional standards to have higher protein levels. This caused kidney stones and urinary tract infections to develop in many children.

A total of 21 people were convicted last January for their involvement in the scandal, almost all serving 15 years of imprisonment.

The scandal was announced after the Beijing Olympics though reports indicate that the issue was already known prior and was concealed to avoid bad image for the quadrennial meet.