As more tea store chains became embroiled in a pesticide scare, food safety specialists yesterday urged the public to refrain from drinking tea made from a first infusion and demanded the government step up its monitoring of pesticide use in edible products.
“There are about 70 types of environmental hormones. Among them, about 40, including dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane [DDT], dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls and plasticizers, can impede proper hormone function; increase the risk of cancer and birth defects; and cause the feminization of mammals, fish and birds,” Academia Sinica vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) told a forum on battling cancer in Taipei.
Chen said that long-term consumption of beverages made from pesticide-laced tea leaves could increase the risk of cancers. He urged the government to improve monitoring of tea farmers’ use of pesticides, and called on consumers to opt only for stores whose ingredients are proven by inspections to be free of pesticide residue.
Research has associated exposure to environmental hormones with higher risks of breast, ovarian, prostate, testicular and thyroid cancers, Chen said.
“It is worth noting that plasticizers can make one more prone to developing breast cancer, so the public is advised to avoid heating foods covered with plastic wrap in a microwave oven, regularly replace plastic containers with new ones and only put containers made from transparent glass or ceramics in a microwave,” he said.
Tan Tun-tzu (譚敦慈), widow of toxicology expert Lin Chieh-liang (林杰樑), said she conducted an experiment in which dried rose and chrysanthemum buds were first washed with cold running water for two minutes before being immersed in boiling water for three to five minutes.
“The result was that more than 90 percent of the pesticide residue contained in the buds was washed away,” Tan said.
People should not drink tea made from a first infusion to avoid consuming high levels of pesticide residue and stay away from tea leaves contaminated with DDT, as it is not water-soluble and is therefore harder to wash away, she said.
DDT was the insecticide found last month in the rose tea ingredients used by tea chain Stornaway (英國藍), a discovery that set off a nationwide pesticide scare that has widened to several other chains.
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
SHIFTING FIRE: While the tempo of purely military exercises around Taiwan has gone down somewhat, Beijing is working to isolate Lai diplomatically from support abroad Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is shifting tactics in his campaign to pressure Taiwan, ramping up diplomatic isolation of the nation while dialing down provocative displays of military aggression. Taiwan recorded a daily average of five Chinese military aircraft crossing the Taiwan Strait’s buffer line with China through May this year — half the number logged in the same period last year. In March, Beijing did not send a single fighter jet near Taiwan for seven days, the longest absence on record outside of typhoon season. In comparison, China sent 153 planes near Taiwan during one day at its peak in
Four Taiwanese universities have been ranked among the world's top 200 institutions in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for next year, the highest Taiwan has ever placed in the category, with National Taiwan University (NTU) achieving its best performance at 54th globally and 17th in Asia. The four Taiwanese institutions in the global top 200 are NTU (54th), National Tsing Hua University (142nd), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (177th) and National Cheng Kung University (191st), the rankings showed. All four universities achieved their highest-ever global rankings this year, QS data showed. National Cheng Kung University entered the top 200 for
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