The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus will mobilize a massive campaign against the Department of Health (DOH) if the government agrees to a full opening to US beef products, the DPP caucus said yesterday.
DPP Legislator Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) lambasted the government ahead of a possible announcement lifting the ban on US meat from cattle more than 30 months old and beef with bones, saying such an action would jeopardize public health in Taiwan.
Under DPP rule, the government agreed to US beef imports but on the strict condition that the meat be from cattle younger than 30 months of age, and beef with bones was barred when a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease was discovered in 2005.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was optimistic that US beef would gain full access to the Taiwan market “sometime this year,” prompting the media to speculate the ban would be lifted by the end of this month or early next month.
Wang said the government should look at the public angst that arose in South Korea and Japan when those two countries opened their borders to US beef.
Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), another DPP lawmaker questioned whether the Ma administration had conceded to US pressure on beef in exchange for his transit stops on US soil and urged the public to stand united in boycotting US beef.
The DPP said it plans to mobilize the public to launch a “one person, one call” campaign to let the DOH know the public’s objection to lifting the ban.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
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