A group of academics yesterday rallied behind Tsuang Ben-jei (莊秉潔), a professor against whom Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) filed a lawsuit over his research, which the company said had injured its reputation.
Tsuang, a faculty member of National Chung Hsing University’s (NCHU) department of environmental engineering, is a target of FPG’s ire for remarks he made last year during a meeting of the Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) environmental impact assessment committee in which he reported that hazardous heavy metals and carcinogenic substances contained in the exhaust gas emitted by the company’s sixth naphtha cracker plant in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮) resulted in a higher cancer occurrence rate for nearby residents.
FPG filed a civil suit alleging the sullying of its reputation with a compensation claim of NT$40 million (US$1.3 million) as well as a criminal suit alleging aggravated defamation and demanded that Tsuang place a public notice of apology in newspapers.
Photo: Chen Ping-hung, Taipei Times
At a press conference yesterday, Chou Kuei-tien (周桂田), a professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of National Development and host of the conference, said that by Saturday night, 485 academics, including former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), had signed a petition in support of Tsuang.
The petition states their support for Tsuang and his freedom to speak, reprimands FPG for “arbitrarily oppressing academic freedom” and urges the company to withdraw the lawsuit.
The academics said fear from FPG’s actions would have a chilling effect, resulting in a regression of academic freedoms within a democratic society.
Tsuang had the academic conscience to stand out and expose the health effects caused by the sixth naphtha cracker’s exhaust and so the issue should be discussed further and debated, Chou Chang-hung (周昌弘) of Academia Sinica said.
“From the perspective of the nobility of academic freedom, we will not allow our space for academic debate to become the defendant. I feel sad and mortified [about the case],” Chou said. “If academics are afraid to stand out to tell the truth to the public, then we should feel a sense of guilt for not paying our social responsibilities.”
Academic freedom is recognized as a basic human right worldwide and the right to bring forth unwelcome viewpoints should be protected from being threatened or interfered with, said NCHU secretary-general Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲), who participated in the press conference on behalf of the university.
Hsu Wei-chun (徐偉群), an assistant professor at Chung Yuan Christian University and convener of the Association of Taiwan Democracy, urged prosecutors not to initiate legal proceedings against Tsuang and for the judiciary to adhere to freedom of speech as protected by the Constitution.
The first trial session of the case is scheduled for Thursday.
Meanwhile, FPG lawyer Wu Yu-hsueh (吳雨學) said the corporation respected academic freedom, but Tsuang’s research cited false data, which had damaged its reputation and caused panic among residents in the area.
Wu said the data was simulated and did not represent the actual emissions volume of the plant, which placed Tsuang’s actions outside the scope of protection of the freedom of speech.
FPG had asked Tsuang to provide the sources of his data and asked for greater clarification of the report, but Tsuang had not responded, Wu said.
In the report, Tsuang cited the EPA as a source of his data, but when the corporation contacted the agency, it denied ever providing such data to Tsuang, Wu said.
Asked if the corporation would drop the lawsuit, Wu said the case has entered the legal system, but there was room for reconciliation if Tsuang wishes to settle out of court.
It depends on whether Tsuang was willing to apologize or find a way to restore FPG’s reputation, Wu said.
If FPG wins the lawsuit, it would donate the NT$40 million in damages to charity, Wu said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
REWRITING HISTORY: China has been advocating a ‘correct’ interpretation of the victory over Japan that brings the CCP’s contributions to the forefront, an expert said An elderly Chinese war veteran’s shin still bears the mark of a bullet wound he sustained when fighting the Japanese as a teenager, a year before the end of World War II. Eighty years on, Li Jinshui’s scar remains as testimony to the bravery of Chinese troops in a conflict that killed millions of their people. However, the story behind China’s overthrow of the brutal Japanese occupation is deeply contested. Historians broadly agree that credit for victory lies primarily with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led Republic of China (ROC) Army. Its leader, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a
RSS