The Melamine debarcle has finally cooled down abit. All the steam it generated is definately understandable….

Now down to some basic reactions on thow Melamine causes those kidney stones.
I would like to clarify that Melamine ON its own is relatively non toxic, its LD50 was said to be similar to that of table salt 3248 mg/kg translates to about 195g of Melamine to be consumed orally if your weight is 60kg. Thats a lot of crystals to be eating hahaha. (Some reports suggest cancer which everything pretty much gives you it is just how much to consume)

What happens is when Melamine is ingested it reacts with Cyanuric acid (considered non toxic even higher LD50 than Melamine) found as supplement for cattle and required precursor to making Chlorinated cyanurates to disinfect water as some examples.

So Melamine + Cyanuric Acid => Melamine cyanurate which can form crystals in renal microtubles there by damaging the kidneys.

Sourced from Wikipedia.