Protesters yesterday took to the streets in Taipei in support of the international campaign March Against Monsanto, calling on the government to maintain strict regulations on genetically modified organisms (GMO) in foods.
GMO foods will be a critical issue in negotiations on agricultural trade between Taiwan and the US to be held in September, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator said.
The first, US-based, March Against Monsanto in 2013 garnered support from more than 2 million protesters worldwide who protested against the US biotechnological multinational, which produces genetically modified plant species and herbicides.
Tami Canal, the initiator of the movement, has been campaigning to promote organic food production and for the labeling of products containing GMO ingredients.
The Homemakers United Foundation joined the movement yesterday to lead the march, which ended at the Water Garden Organic Farmers’ Market.
“GM foods and 80 percent of the herbicides [used by local farmers] pose health risks,” said Warren Kuo (郭華仁), a professor at National Taiwan University’s Department of Agronomy, adding that Monsanto’s and the US government’s support of GMO foods was scientifically untenable.
Since 2008, Kuo has been working with the foundation, the Green Formosa Front and a few lawmakers to call for regulation of GMO foods.
Their efforts were rewarded in 2015, when the government amended the School Health Act (學校衛生法) to keep genetically modified and heavily processed foods from reaching educational institutions.
Kuo said the government must not bow to pressure from the US, who he said has called for abolishing the ban on GMO foods in schools under the pretext that it constitutes a barrier to trade.
“As long as the US can offer quality soy beans at a reasonable price, we are willing to purchase them. There is no such thing as a trade barrier,” he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said the government would likely be pressured on the issue of GMO foods and meat products containing ractopamine during the negotiations in September, adding that people should work together to let the US know Taiwanese do not want these things, and that she would raise the issues again in the Legislative Yuan on May 31.
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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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