The Control Yuan on Thursday censured three government agencies for poor supervision of the use of plasticizers in the country, which it said resulted in a food scare in May and NT$11.4 billion in losses for the domestic food industry.
The government watchdog censured the Executive Yuan, the Department of Health (DOH) and the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and asked the three to investigate officials accused of dereliction of duty.
It also asked the health department to reward Food and Drug Administration inspector Yang Ming-yu (楊明玉), who discovered the banned plasticizer di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, in bottled beverages and dairy products, thus exposing the biggest food safety crisis in the country.
The three agencies must make improvements in the areas cited in the investigation report, the Control Yuan said, otherwise it would invoke its interrogation rights and impeach the premier — the highest ranking official in the executive branch.
Control Yuan member Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) said the investigation found that the health department had ignored public calls for stronger government supervision of food additives and failed to take specific action on the matter.
Although the DOH had been censured several times over its handling of food safety issues, the Cabinet still did not institute proper supervision of the health department, which led to staff and budget shortages, and lax regulations at the DOH, Cheng said at a press conference.
He also displayed a permit for making clouding agents, issued by the DOH in 1978 to Pin Han Perfumery Co, the supplier that was found to have been adding plasticizers to clouding agents.
Since 1978, the department had extended the permit several times based on written reports instead of on-the-spot inspections, Cheng said.
The permit was like an official endorsement that may have led food additive buyers to believe the clouding agents were safe for use, he said.
The plasticizers involved are listed, under EPA regulations, as fourth category toxic substances, and there are about 5,235 registered factories in the country making such substances, he said.
However, there are only three to four employees in a unit with an annual budget of NT$11 million overseeing such substances, which clearly indicates a need for better supervision, he said.
The discovery of plasticizer-tainted products in many processed foods, including sports drinks, juices, jams and bubble tea, forced a widespread recall of products earlier this year. Consumer confidence in Taiwan was heavily affected and the country’s international reputation took a hit.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
RSS