The legislative session sat idle the whole day yesterday as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus staged another filibuster to protest against the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus for backpedaling on a promise to include bans on imports of US ground beef and beef offal in an amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法).
Several DPP lawmakers stormed the legislative floor's platform, preventing the session from proceeding. The move eventually blocked the passage of the majority KMT's proposed amendment.
It was the DPP's second filibuster to boycott the planned amendment that would officially allow imports of bone-in beef and other US beef products since the KMT caucus first put the bill up for consideration on Tuesday.
The DPP caucus says the law must prohibit the import of US beef products such as offal, ground beef, spinal cords, brains and skulls, which are considered as potentially hazardous to human health.
The DPP caucus said the KMT caucus had reached a consensus with them to impose the ban, but later backed out of the deal in favor of only setting safety screening measures at Taiwan's borders.
The KMT caucus said its version of the amendment to the Act follows a protocol signed by Taiwan and the US last month to give market access to US bone-in beef, beef offal and ground beef/
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