The government said yesterday it would not give up restrictions it imposes on imported beef, after a warning by US lawmakers that the issue could cripple free-trade talks. Shipments of US beef were pulled from store shelves last month after they were found to contain a drug, Paylean, used to promote leanness in animals raised for meat.
“The restrictions are in place in accordance with the laws to protect public health and they are not aimed at the US. We will continue to enforce the regulations,” Department of Health spokesperson Wang Che-chao (王哲超) said.
Top US lawmakers urged -President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Thursday to roll back what they branded unscientific restrictions on US beef exports and warned the issue could cripple free-trade talks.
“The scientific evidence is clear that US beef is safe and that there is no food-safety justification for these actions,” said the chairmen and ranking members of two US congressional committees with broad sway over trade matters.
“We urge you to take prompt corrective measures to restore trade and avoid further damage to our bilateral trade relations,” they wrote in a letter made public by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat.
The top Republican on his panel, Senator Orrin Hatch, House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp and the top Democrat on that panel, Representative Sander Levin, also signed the letter.
The lawmakers warned of “serious negative consequences” for bilateral trade, and said a solution was needed “to begin to restore the confidence necessary” to resume trade talks on hold since 2007.
Taiwan pulled shipments of US beef from store shelves last month after they were found to contain a drug, Paylean, used to promote leanness in animals raised for meat. Taiwan restricts Paylean because of possible human health risks associated with the ingredient ractopamine, but 26 countries, including the US, Canada, Australia and Brazil, have declared the product safe.
The US lawmakers said in their letter that Taiwan had effectively “recognized the safety of ractopamine” when its Department of Health wrote to the WTO in 2007 to say it planned to set what amounted to a ceiling on the amount of residue permitted in cattle and swine.
Beef exports from the US — Taiwan’s main source — “have ground to a halt” the lawmakers said, warning that “Taiwan’s scientifically unjustified policy” was also hurting sales of US pork.
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
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
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
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