As several healthcare specialists stressed the negative effects of eating pork containing ractopamine residues at a public hearing yesterday, representatives of the pig farming industry urged the government to stand firm on banning imports of pork containing the leanness-enhancing agent.
A public hearing on discussing the possible health risks of allowing imports of pork containing ractopamine was held.
Su Wei-shuo (蘇偉碩), a psychiatrist at Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital’s Tainan Branch, told the public hearing at the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee that a US study showed that when rats were fed with meat containing a leanness-enhancing agent, it enhanced tumor metastasis by many times.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Another overseas study suggested that pigs become more aggressive when they are fed with food containing ractopamine, he said, adding that the substance might have adverse effects on the central nervous system.
Cheng Tsun-jen (鄭尊仁), a professor at National Taiwan University’s Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, said an animal experiment conducted in Taiwan three years ago showed that feeding ractopamine to rats could cause unstable blood pressure.
He said that conducting health risk evaluations of healthy people might not be enough, and that the risks to vulnerable groups, such as people with cardiovascular disease, should also be included.
Taipei Veterans General Hospital toxicologist Yang Chen-chang (楊振昌) said although the Codex Alimentarius Commission has set a maximum residue limit (MRL) of 10 parts per billion for muscle cuts of beef and pork, the EU still does not accept meat containing ractopamine, so Taiwan’s incoming government should conduct a health risk evaluation using strict and objective standards.
Han Pao Pig Farm chairman Chen Wei-hsiung (陳修雄) said that most pig farmers oppose allowing imports of US pork containing ractopamine not only because it might harm public health, but also because it would have a big impact on the local hog industry.
However, if the government cannot stop the import of US pork containing ractopamine due to international trade considerations, then it should regulate pork products to make sure that product labels indicate the place of origin and whether they contain ractopamine, he said.
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