Poisonous fish from the Tamsui River, discovered to contain traces of arsenic, have found their way into Taiwan’s fish markets and will ultimately be eaten by unsuspecting consumers. Toxicologists have expressed concern about the situation, as consuming such fish over an extended period of time carries a cancer risk. The health authorities recommend against fishing in this area if the intention is to consume what one has caught.
This is certainly not the first time something like this has happened in Taiwan, and the authorities should investigate the matter more thoroughly and implement appropriate measures to ensure consumer safety.
Recently there have been increasingly serious cases of pollution in marine life that have not only caused economic damage but also constituted a public health risk. Bureaucratic inertia notwithstanding, one questions the wisdom of pondering whether a lock should be fitted only after the horse has bolted. Prevention is a far better policy than implementing measures after the fact. The authorities should be trying to prevent such problems before they ever develop. The intention here is certainly not to cause undue alarm.
Not long ago residents of Redondo Beach in Los Angeles woke up to find millions of dead fish piled on top of each other in King Harbor. Research suggested this could have been the result of strong neurotoxins produced by a prodigious growth in nitzschia, a common marine diatom, which can pollute marine organisms such as fish and shellfish, leading to a case of lethal poisoning the scale of which was unprecedented. Consumption of large amounts of fish or shellfish containing this domoic acid can be fatal in humans. There was an incidence of domoic acid poisoning in Canada in the 1980s in which over one hundred people suffered food poisoning from ingesting marine products polluted with traces of this acid. Several people died. Every year off the coast of China there is a phenomenon called the “red tide” created by an algal bloom, causing economic damage to the tune of billions of Chinese yuan, in addition to human fatalities.
Nor are Taiwan’s coastal areas immune to such threats. We consequently need to come up with some sort of defensive mechanism. Over the last few years, efforts have been made to develop the coastal areas, the side effects of which have been ecological changes that have further exacerbated marine pollution and the destruction of the marine environment. The government should really be setting up some kind of body to arrange and supervise compensation for damage done to the marine ecology, clearly defining what can be compensated for and setting up standards, procedures and compensation.
This will help avoid unnecessary disputes or protests.
The health and safety situation, when it comes to seafood, has come some way in Taiwan, although that is not to say that there aren’t still several areas that could be improved upon. For a start, there has been an increase in the popularity of angling, which presents problems because of the amount of industrial and domestic sewage and waste water from the agriculture and fisheries industries polluting the waters along our coastal areas. Any fish caught in these polluted waters may well contain heavy metals or toxins, and are naturally not subject to health and safety tests, whether they are meant for personal consumption or for sale. The recent example of polluted fish in the Tamsui River is just one very obvious example of this. The competent authorities should conduct regular pollution tests along our rivers and coastal areas and designate non-fishing areas, as well as setting up a dedicated hotline, encouraging members of the public to report anyone breaking the law, with rewards offered for calls that lead to prosecution.
A popular pastime in Taiwan is to catch fish and shrimp in stocked pools and then cook and eat them on the premises. The fish and shrimp in these pools can be damaged during transportation and as they collide with each other in the pool, leaving them vulnerable to infections from germs and bacteria. Owners, wary of this, often resort to antibiotics and -chemicals to keep them healthy. There have been reports about this very thing in the news recently, although unfortunately people don’t seem to be taking it all that seriously.
There are also concerns about whether suppliers are complying with regulations about the use of medicinal products and adequate withdrawal periods thereof — the point before which an animal or its products must not be used for human consumption after having been administered with a given drug or chemical.
Again, the authorities should be reinforcing efforts to monitor such things, and publishing the results so that consumers can make informed choices.
Another problem is over-the-counter transactions, still quite common in Taiwan, in which fish and seafood — especially when farmed — may find their way directly into restaurants and buffets without having been tested. This is a blind spot as far as food safety and epidemic prevention is concerned, and something else the government needs to address by amending the relevant legislation, to ensure nothing gets through the net, so to speak.
Preventing food scares is one of the fundamental responsibilities of government, and is more pressing than cross-strait issues. The government needs to realize where its priorities lie.
Lee Wu-chung is a professor of agricultural economics at National Taiwan University.
TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER
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