The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said that the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government had planned to accept maximum residue levels for ractopamine, in response to opposition to the KMT government’s plan to lift the ban on importing US beef containing the feed additive.
Citing a notification issued to the WTO on Aug. 16, 2007, by the former DPP government, KMT spokesman Yin Wei (殷瑋) said the former government planned to “establish the residue limits for the veterinary drug ractopamine on the muscle, fat, liver and kidney of cattle and pigs,” which showed its intention to lift the ban not only on US beef, but also pork.
“It was the DPP that lied about the notification and tried to blame it on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), accusing him of distorting the truth,” Yin said.
“The document showed that the DPP planned to lift the ban on both US beef and pork. Shouldn’t the DPP explain the matter?” he asked.
Yin’s comments came after DPP spokesman Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) on Thursday showed the notification to the WTO and said what the then-DPP government did was said it would adopt an appropriate international standard, guideline or recommendation, such as the draft maximum residue levels suggested by the UN’s Codex Alimentarius Commission.
The document, Lin said, proved that Ma lied to the public in claiming that the former DPP government had promised to lift the ban on ractopamine. Lin at the time urged the Ma administration to stop shifting the focus of the issue and blaming it on the DPP.
Yin yesterday insisted that the maximum residue levels of ractopamine should be suggested by the member nation that issued the notification, and accused Lin and the DPP of manipulating the notification’s content to shift the responsibility.
“Acting DPP Chairperson Chen Chu (陳菊) said that the party’s stance on the US beef issue was consistent, but apparently the party changed the position,” he said.
Ma on Wednesday blamed former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration for promising the WTO to lift the ban on US beef containing the controversial feed additive, and said that his administration had to deal with the unresolved issue, dismissing criticism that he had made under-the-table deals with the US on lifting the ban on ractopamine.
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