TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Opposition politicians said Tuesday they were considering launching a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet after it announced it was moving toward an end to the ban on
US beef treated with leanness drugs on four conditions.
The government announced Monday evening that it would set safe-content levels, treat beef and pork differently, require clear labeling and keep the ban on the ractopamine or Paylean leanness agent in intestines. The Cabinet described the new measures as “a policy direction” without setting a date.
The government statement came after three inter-ministerial meetings with experts hosted by the Council of Agriculture failed to reach a consensus and as the Legislative Yuan prepared to consider several proposals for legislation, most of which included a complete ban on ractopamine.
The opposition reacted furiously, saying the government was ‘paying back its
debt to the United States.’ Before President
Ma Ying-jeou’s January 14 reelection, the opposition accused Washington of making statements seeming to favor Ma’s candidacy. Once the election was over, the president talked to US visitors about a new approach to the beef problem. Ma and other government officials denied they had made any promises to end the ractopamine ban.
Opposition Democratic Progressive Party legislative caucus official Ker Chien-ming said the party would continue to demand that the government protect public health and that only a zero level of ractopamine in food was acceptable.
The three lawmakers of the Taiwan Solidarity Union occupied the dais at the Legislative Yuan and prevented Premier Sean Chen from speaking Tuesday morning.
People First Party legislative whip Thomas Lee said his party was “very angry” and would consider joining other parties in a move to file a motion of no confidence in Chen’s Cabinet if it didn’t take back the measure and apologize.
DPP lawmaker Chao Tien-lin said a no-confidence proposal would become necessary if the ruling Kuomintang used majority violence to force through its measures at the Legislative Yuan.
KMT legislative whip Lin Hung-chih suggested lawmakers from all parties organize a trip to Japan to see how that country handled US beef imports.
Experts who participated in the COA-hosted meetings were angry that the government had apparently failed to listen to their advice. None of the meetings had reached a conclusion that ractopamine was not harmful to humans, they said.
“Consumers must boycott US beef to express their anger,” said Chang Gung Memorial Hospital toxicologist Lin Ja-liang, a prominent opponent of ractopamine.
Former Department of Health Minister Chen Chien-jen said the government should have collected more information about ractopamine’s impact on health before reaching a decision.
Pig farmers who had originally planned a protest in Taipei on Thursday said they were more than ever determined to go ahead with the event. On Tuesday, a group of youths protested outside the Presidential Office.
The DOH said it would need three months at least to set the standards for ractopamine content in meat. It would consult international research data and take local eating habits into consideration when determining the safe levels, said Vice Minister Hsiao Mei-ling. In the meantime, the DOH would ask local health authorities to raise the frequency of inspections threefold, she said.
Premier Chen said the government’s requirement for clear labeling of meat products had won the support of 67 percent of the public. “If the information is transparent, the public will have the right to choose and will be able to accept (the lifting of the ban),” he said.
Economics Minister Shih Yen-shiang said that if there were no solution to the beef issue, Taiwan’s competitiveness would suffer and no progress would be made on the resumption of talks about a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. The new policy direction considered both public health and the country’s long-term foreign trade interests, he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment