Confusion over egg story
I am puzzled.
The last paragraph of an article about egg sales leaves me uncertain about my sanity: “While the maximum allowable residue of fipronil in poultry products has been eased from 5 to 10 parts per billion in November, many poultry farmers have become wary of using insecticides in their farms, resulting in more poultry diseases and reduced production of eggs, he said” (“COA urges rules on sales of eggs with cracked shells,” Aug. 15, page 2).
I assume the pronoun “he” refers to Kao Chuan-mo (高傳謨), chairman of the Taipei Egg Retailers’ Union.
My first interpretation of that statement was that, in the opinion of egg retailers, allowing more residue in the eggs makes farmers think that fipronil is less safe than previously thought, so the current levels of use are killing more birds than is warranted by the effectiveness of fipronil in preventing the spread of insect-borne diseases.
That is very unlikely; if the Council of Agriculture or the Ministry of Health and Welfare thought farmers behave that way, then it would have been more sensible to reduce the allowable level of fipronil in the final product to motivate farmers to use less insecticide.
My second interpretation was that the retailers’ union believes that farmers think the government is incompetent and therefore the relaxation of the level must mean that the government thinks that a high acceptable level would kill more people, and if it is dangerous for people, it must also be dangerous for the birds, making the reduction in use appear like a sensible decision for the farmers who want to protect their flocks.
That seems unlikely.
The only other explanation I can see is that the retailers’ union believes that the relaxation of the level of fipronil in the final product will fipronil consumers to believe that they are being endangered and therefore will halve the number of eggs consumed per week.
If the farmers have the same belief and if they are insured for losses due to disease in the flock, it makes sense for them to cut down on insecticide consumption and allow half of the birds to die, filing claims with their insurance companies for the loss of production and reducing their costs.
Are there other interpretations that make more sense?
Emilio Venezian
Taichung
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