The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday demanded that the government include prion tests in its inspection of US beef imports to detect any possible bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) contamination.
The foundation and other groups will submit a joint proposal to the Department of Health, foundation chairman Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁) said.
BSE, or mad cow disease, is a fatal brain degenerating disease in cattle. The human form is known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Scientists believe that it may be transmitted to human beings who eat certain matter from infected animals.
The infectious agent in BSE is believed to be a specific type of misfolded protein called a prion. Those prion proteins carry the disease in transmission between individuals and cause deterioration of the brain.
Hsieh said the risk of BSE contamination in US beef imports has increased because imports of bone-in beef from cattle younger than 30 months are now allowed under the Taiwan-US beef trade protocol signed Oct. 22.
The two sides are expected to review — in six months — the possibility of further opening Taiwan’s market to boneless or bone-in beef from older cattle, which would further raise the risk of BSE contamination, he said.
The foundation is promoting a referendum drive to reject high-risk beef products from the US and Hsieh said the foundation and its allies would reach out to other civic organizations with the aim of collecting 1 million signatures in the second phase of the campaign.
The campaign will be launched simultaneously around the nation, and there are no plans to work with political parties or groups to push referendum proposal, he said.
The proposed referendum would ask voters to veto the government’s decision to open the market to US bone-in beef, ground beef, bovine offal and spinal cords, and demand that the government renegotiate the beef protocol with the US.
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
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