The People First Party’s (PFP) legislative caucus yesterday said the nation’s food safety would fall apart if the incoming administration allows imports of pork containing ractopamine residue.
Party lawmakers also said a proposal to allow imports, but maintain the ban on domestic use of the leanness-enhancing additive, would be deceptive.
PFP caucus convener Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said that remarks last month by Council of Agriculture minister-designate Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻) about being unable to avoid imports of US pork containing the additive were inappropriate, as they were “showing your cards before negotiations began” to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
Tsao said that there would be nothing he could do to stop imports of US pork containing ractopamine because Taiwan is a small economy that does not have the leverage to refuse such imports in a globalized world.
The WHO’s Codex Alimentarius Commission in 2012 adopted maximum residue levels of ractopamine in animal tissue, but the decision was reached via a vote won by a fragile majority — 69 votes for and 67 against — and it was wrong for President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to ease the ban on imports of US beef containing ractopamine residue, Lee said.
“How many countries represented by the 69 votes that approved meat with ractopamine residue have similar dietary habits as Taiwan,” Lee said.
“The EU and China do not allow ractopamine residue in meat,” he said.
The nation’s self-sufficiency rate in pork has reached more than 90 percent, which means that imported pork is likely to end up in school lunches, restaurants and processed meat products, Lee said.
PFP Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) criticized the Ma administration for being “incompetent” when it lifted the ban on US beef imports, so the incoming DPP administration would be “even more incompetent” if it allows such pork imports, because Taiwanese eat more pork than beef.
He questioned whether Taiwanese farmers would be allowed to use ractopamine if pork products with residue of the drug are allowed to be imported, adding that the policies for beef and pork must be separate to protect Taiwanese pig farmers and the public health.
PFP Legislator Chou Chen Hsiu-hsia (周陳秀霞) said allowing imports of pork with ractopamine residue, but prohibiting domestic use of the additive would be deceptive and unfair to farmers.
The DPP administration must not use the public’s health as a bargaining chip for international trade negotiations, Chou said.
Polls show that more than 70 percent of the public are against imports of pork containing ractopamine residue, so the DPP should not sacrifice the nation’s food safety for trade negotiations start, the lawmaker said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS