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DOH backtracks on tests and melamine standards

Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers yesterday obstruct Premier Liu Chao-shuan’s report on the government’s budget plan for the next fiscal year at the Legislative Yuan with a protest against the Cabinet’s poor handling of the toxic milk powder scandal.  PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

The Cabinet’s regulations on melamine took a sudden turn yesterday as Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) announced that none of the dairy products and raw materials from China that had been pulled off shelves would be allowed to be sold until they were proven to be melamine-free.

“The Cabinet previously demanded that products containing dairy ingredients or vegetable-based protein from China must be pulled off shelves until they were cleared of containing the additive melamine,” he said. “This policy remains unchanged.”

Liu did not elaborate on whether his remarks meant zero tolerance of melamine in all products, saying only that “how to make sure that the products do not contain melamine additive is a scientific issue and should be determined by experts.”

Liu made the remarks to reporters when leaving the Legislative Yuan yesterday morning, adding that newly appointed Health Minister Yeh Chin-chuan (葉金川) would convene meetings later in the day to discuss the issue.

When approached by reporters for elaboration, Cabinet Spokeswoman Vanessa Shih (史亞平) said only that “the Department of Health’s [DOH] policy forbids the addition of any melamine to food. Our goal is to ensure that all products test negative for [melamine].”

Liu’s announcement came after a protest lodged by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus occupied the podium and paralyzed the plenary session in the legislature yesterday morning.

DPP legislators held up banners that read “The Cabinet lacks a conscience, is poisoning Taiwan and should immediately step down,” preventing the premier from reporting the government’s budget requests for next year as scheduled.

Legislators across party lines also slammed the Cabinet for the DOH’s easing of regulations on melamine.

The DOH surprised many on Wednesday night by loosening the food safety standard for melamine to 2.5 parts per million (ppm) from the zero ppm it had announced on Tuesday.

In other words, based on the DOH’s announced standard on Wednesday, products containing up to 2.5ppm of the toxic chemical could still enter the Taiwanese market.

DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday that the caucus wanted the Cabinet “pulled off the shelf.”

“[The relaxation of the regulation] influences not only the health of the 23 million people in Taiwan but also Taiwan’s trade and economy. Our caucus vows to fight until the death. We are ready for conflict if the Liu Cabinet does not reverse the regulation,” another DPP caucus whip Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) said.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) and Wu Ching-shih (吳清池) urged the government to adjust the melamine standard back to zero ppm.

KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) agreed with them, but said he did not support replacing the premier, adding that the Cabinet should focus on how to restore the public’s confidence in the government and food products.

Meanwhile, the KMT caucus encouraged the public to consume more domestic milk products and coffee from Yunlin County’s Gukeng Township (古坑) amid the melamine scare. KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said the melamine crisis also presented an opportunity for the public to consume more Taiwanese products.

Health minister Lin Fang-yue (林芳郁) stepped down on Thursday to take political responsibility for the DOH’s much-criticized slow reaction to and inconsistent management of the melamine scare.

Yeh, who the Cabinet announced late on Thursday night would be the official to replace Lin, took over the DOH yesterday afternoon as the new health minister in a hand-over ceremony.

“In the future, there will be no more numbers [ppm] mentioned in melamine tests, only positive or negative for presence of melamine,” he said.

“People only need to know whether it is safe to consume … As long as it has passed the test, it will be allowed on the market,” Yeh said, adding that the department will ensure all products on the shelves are fit for consumption.

To expedite testing, the department will soon certify 19 laboratories, including the Food Industry Research and Development Institute, for melamine testing, he said.

“In two weeks, we will meet experts in the US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the EU to collaborate on solutions to the melamine problem,” Yeh said, vowing “to find a fair way to test for melamine despite different instruments.”

Different testing instruments have different sensitivities in testing melamine.

Yeh yesterday also said that if the DPP had doubts, it could gather its own experts.

“Science does not involve politics,” he said. “We welcome DPP experts to discuss possible solutions together.”

During the ceremony yesterday, which was overseen by Minister Without Portfolio Chang Chin-fu (張進福), Lin said that no one has fallen sick in Taiwan because of having consumed melamine, except in China and other countries, and asked “so are we only scaring ourselves? Is it really necessary to make this into a SARS of food [safety]?”

But he reminded the department, “Don’t forget that we are a democratic country. If people complain to us about food safety, it is our responsibility to evaluate what went wrong.”

National Yang-Ming University Hospital reported yesterday that three Taiwanese toddlers and one woman had developed kidney stones after drinking tainted Chinese milk products.

All four victims had frequently visited China and the three children, all aged between two and three, drank Chinese milk formula, the hospital said.

“The hospital screened nine children who have been drinking milk suspected of containing melamine ... and three are found to have kidney stones,” it said in a statement, adding the mother of one of the children also has the condition.

Additional reporting by AFP


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