Tian Wenhua, the board chairwoman and general manager of China dairy giant Sanlu Group, was fired from her posts in the wake of the tainted baby formula milk powder scandal.

Tian was also removed from her post as the secretary of the corporation committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), according to Party authorities of Hebei Province and its capital Shijiazhuang where the company is based.

An estimated 1,253 infants, including two fatally, across the country developed kidney stones after drinking Sanlu's baby formula tainted by melamine, a chemical believed to help increase the the protein content in the milk.

Four people in connection with the contamination were arrested by Hebei police.

(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2008)