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 batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS