Worried about melamine contamination and dissatisfied with the Department of Health, a group of social activist bloggers calling themselves “Happy Mobs” are pushing for more corporate and government transparency.
“It’s been weeks since the melamine scare first broke and the government has changed the tolerable limit for melamine quite a few times. But they never explained to us why the changes were made, why we decided to follow the EU standard or the Hong Kong standards and how everything was decided,” Cheng Kuo-wei (鄭國威), initiator of the campaign, told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview.
“We want safe food and we want to know how the government makes decisions,” he said.
PHOTO: WU HSING-HUA, TAIPEI TIMES
“Although there’s a Government Information Disclosure Act [政府資訊公開法], it’s poorly executed,” he said. “I think the melamine scare is a good opportunity to push for more transparency.”
In a statement released by Happy Mobs, it asked the government to release “complete and clear records of all expert meetings — where the numbers came from and why some numbers were chosen but not others.”
“We would like to urge the government to come up with a set of standard food testing procedures, not an ambiguous ‘non-detectable’ standard,” it said. “We would also like to ask the government to allow concerned civic groups to participate in meetings and the policy-making process.”
Meanwhile, Tseng Chao-ming (曾昭明), founder of Corporate Social Responsibility Taiwan, called on food companies to fulfill their responsibilities by making public detailed information about their products, including where all the raw materials come from.
However, unlike more conventional civic groups, members of Happy Mobs do not meet face-to-face to discuss issues — many of them do not even know who their peers are.
Instead, they use a forum-like online platform to plan actions or compose common statements.
Each member posts the statements on their own blogs or forwards them to friends via e-mail.
So far, 657 blogs are participating in the campaign against melamine, which is just the latest issue Happy Mobs has taken on.
“We are a group of bloggers who are concerned about public issues. We’ve actually initiated other campaigns for the preservation of Losheng Sanatorium and environmental issues, and advocated support for the Green Party Taiwan [in the legislative elections],” said Daphne Hu (胡慕情), one of the bloggers.
“The advantage of an online campaign is that it is not limited by place or time and is a good way for those who may not have other channels to express their thoughts,” Hu said.
“I don’t expect the government to respond to us right now, but we want to accumulate enough sway to show the government what the public is thinking,” she said. “And if the government doesn’t want to listen to us, we may just have to solve that with a change of government.”
Happy Mobs discussions are open to the public and accessible by joining groups.google.com.tw/group/happymobs.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS