About 15 percent of the fruit and vegetables from traditional markets tested in a survey contained pesticide residue levels exceeding legal standards or illegal pesticides, a report released by Greenpeace Taiwan yesterday showed.
The group said it collected 102 fruit and vegetable samples from 12 traditional markets across the nation and tested them for pesticides at a third-party independent laboratory between May and last month.
The test showed that half of the samples — 51 — contained a total of 44 types of pesticides, while 16 samples had excess levels of pesticides or contained ones banned by the Council of Agriculture (COA).
For example, one lettuce sample was found to contain about 14 times the permitted amount of the fungicide trifloxystrobin.
“We also tested a sponge gourd that had 10 times the amount of pesticide allowed, as well as a sweet pepper and a mustard leaf that each had seven types of pesticide residue on them,” said Hsieh Yi-hsuan (謝易軒), the organization’s agriculture and food safety project manager.
Twenty-five of the produce samples tested carried more then one type of pesticide and four contained pesticide levels listed as highly hazardous by the COA, some of which had as much as 11 times the legal concentration, she added.
Greenpeace said that among the 44 pesticides found in the produce were three types of toxic pesticides banned by the EU: carbofuran, methamidophos and tolfenpyrad.
“Statistics show that about 75 percent of Taiwanese habitually buy their fruit and vegetables at traditional markets so if the COA does not do its duty by strictly controlling pesticide use, the public may be ingesting dangerous pesticides on a daily basis,” Hsieh said.
Hsieh said these pesticides could damage the nervous system or impair the function of the endocrine system, and could even increase the risk of getting cancer.
The group urged COA to prioritize banning pesticides already prohibited in the EU and tightening its pesticide control policies.
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
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