Dozens of civic groups yesterday took to the streets of Taipei to vent their frustration over what they said was the government not taking responsibility for its handling of the tainted lard oil scandal, calling on Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) to step down.
Chanting slogans such as “Waste oil hits, food safety ruined,” representatives of the Homemakers United Foundation, the Homemakers Union Consumers Coop, the National Alliance of Parents Organizations, the Taiwan Yucheng Victims’ Support Organization and other groups staged a protest in front of the Executive Yuan yesterday morning.
“Although the Executive Yuan has held several emergency meetings to seek ways to handle the snowballing tainted lard oil scare, it has yet to disclose the issues discussed or any consensus reached during the meetings, nor has it given a time line for when the scandal will be brought under control or what emergency measures it will implement to tackle a food scare that has had a widespread impact,” Homemakers United Foundation chairman Chiang Miao-ying (江妙瑩) said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Chiang also accused government agencies of shirking their responsibility during the scandal and failing to join forces to work out ways to improve the nation’s regulations on the sources of ingredients used in food, especially the Food and Drug Administration, the Council of Agriculture, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Environmental Protection Administration.
“The seemingly endless string of food scares in recent years has completely exposed the ineffectiveness of the government’s efforts to safeguard food safety,” Chiang said.
Chiang also criticized Jiang.
“If you cannot do your job, please step down. We will find someone else who can,” Chiang said.
Homemakers Union Consumers Coop chairman Hsu Hsiu-chiao (許秀嬌) said the group has spent years of effort trying to educate consumers to monitor what they eat by reading the ingredient labels, but its endeavors have repeatedly been nullified by food scares.
“Usually, government agencies do nothing to regulate food manufacturers and rely solely on ‘self-monitoring.’ When problems surface, they evade responsibility and have no desire to address them,” Hsu said.
Taiwan Yucheng Victims’ Support Organization standing director Lo Shih-hsiang (羅士翔) said the government’s indifference toward food safety is evidenced by its apparent attempts to downplay the potential health impacts of consuming recycled waste oil.
“The victims of PCB [polychlorinated biphenyl] poisoning have for years been forced to live with the painful trauma left by a food scare [in 1979], yet their suffering and predicament seem insufficient to awaken the government to the importance of food safety,” Lo said.
The 1979 scandal involved rice bran oil laced with PCB — a group of industrial chemicals that can cause long-term skin problems if consumed in large amounts — that affected more than 2,000 people across the nation.
National Alliance of Parents Organizations supervisor Huang Tsung-chih (黃聰智) said the tainted lard oil scandal has unnerved many parents nationwide, who fret that the government’s inability to monitor the quality of raw materials could leave their children vulnerable to more contaminated food.
Tsai Meng-lun (蔡孟倫), an adviser at the Executive Yuan’s Department of the Interior, Health, Welfare and Labor, received the petition from the groups.
The groups also issued three demands: that the Executive Yuan immediately hold inter-ministerial food safety conferences to seek ways to make the control of food materials at the source more stringent; that the government establish a mechanism to allow the public to help monitor food safety risks; and that a law on dietary education be implemented as soon as possible.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from