Citizens and activist groups yesterday raised doubts over the maximum limits set by the Ministry of Health and Welfare for the levels of radioactive contamination permitted in imported foodstuffs, including from post-Fukushima nuclear disaster Japan, and urged tighter regulations.
In a roundtable discussion on radiation and food safety organized by the National Association for Radiation Protection in Taipei, Tokyo-based Taiwanese writer and anti-nuclear advocate Liu Li-erh (劉黎兒), and officials from the Food and Drug Administration and the Atomic Energy Council, exchanged views on the current food-radiation safety limits and other relevant regulations.
Liu said that Taiwan’s permissible limit for total cesium radionuclides (cesium-134 and cesium-137, which are radioactive isotopes associated with increased cancer risks) in food products, which stands at 370 becquerels per kilogram (Bq/kg), is an outdated standard that was set in response to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
At the time the calculation was based on a person being exposed to 5 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation per year.
“The 2007 recommendation of the International Commission on Radiological Protection [ICRP] stated that the dose limit of public exposure is 1mSv per year,” Liu added, urging the authority to raise the threshold to 100Bq/kg, which is also the limit set in Japan.
Liu was especially critical of the ministry’s attempt to ease the standard for total cesium radionuclides in food to 600Bq/kg in June 2012, which she called “a surreptitious and inconceivable move made when the legislature was in recess,” and when Japan had just tightened the limit from 500Bq/kg, set right after the Fukushima catastrophe, to 100Bq/kg.
Food and Drug Administration’s Northern Center for Regional Administration Director Feng Jun-lan (馮潤蘭) dismissed the allegation, saying that it was not a stealthy move, but one announced in accordance with due bureaucratic process.
“The [proposed] change was not limited to relaxing [the standard]. The announcement also included standards that were made stricter and the addition that radionuclides should be tested,” Feng said, adding that Taiwan’s limits are actually lower than in many other countries and the change was made to be “in line with international standards.”
However, the proposed amendment was met with strong opposition and skepticism after an insider bureaucrat drew the public’s attention to the matter, and has since been in limbo.
Feng emphasized that although the nation’s radiation limit is set at 370Bq/kg for foodstuffs, in practice imports from Japan are not allowed to exceed 100Bq/kg due to Japan’s domestic restrictions.
“More than 40,000 food products from Japan had been inspected from 2012 to the end of 2013. A total of 192 items had tested positive for Iodine-131 or cesium-134 and cesium-137, but the doses were all within permitted levels,” she added.
Liu and the representatives of groups in the audience urged the government to make public the names of the companies that imported the radiation-positive foodstuffs, but Feng said there are no existing regulations allowing the government to release information about the food companies involved.
The groups said the government was “passive in protecting its people,” pointing out that while Hong Kong has a limit of 1,000Bq/kg for total cesium radionuclides in food, it nevertheless gives information about the radiation-contaminated food products regardless of the doses, thereby pressuring the food companies involved to pull the products off shelves on their own initiative in order to preserve their reputations.
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday said that private-sector refiners are willing to stop buying Russian naphtha should the EU ask them to, after a group of non-governmental organizations, including the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), criticized the nation’s continued business with the country. While Taiwan joined the US and its Western allies in putting broad sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, it did not explicitly ban imports of naphtha, a major hard-currency earner for Russia. While state-owned firms stopped importing Russian oil in 2023, there is no restriction on private companies to
President William Lai (賴清德) is expected to announce a new advanced “all-domain” air defense system to better defend against China when he gives his keynote national day speech today, four sources familiar with the matter said. Taiwan is ramping up defense spending and modernizing its armed forces, but faces a China that has a far larger military and is adding its own advanced new weapons such as stealth fighter jets, aircraft carriers and a huge array of missiles. Lai is expected to announce the air defense system dubbed “Taiwan Dome” in his speech this morning, one of the sources said. The system
RSS