The public should be given at least 60 days to view and comment on an amendment to the Veterinary Drugs Control Act (動物用藥品管理法), which is one of the regulations relevant to legalizing imports of US pork containing ractopamine, the New Power Party caucus said yesterday.
The Council of Agriculture on Friday announced that it had amended Article 5, Section 1 of the act, and the change would automatically take effect in seven days, NPP caucus whip Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) told a news conference in Taipei.
Debate on the issue has persisted for many years, Chiu said, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus also strongly opposed the import of US pork during the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
“We have reservations that the DPP government has now made opening the import of US pork an ‘administrative order,’ as the Constitution states that such an important matter should be decided by the Legislative Yuan,” he said.
Even if it is an administrative order, the government should follow the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) before enforcing it, including a 60-day period for public comments, during which all major stakeholders could express their thoughts on the issue, Chiu said.
Articles 151 and 154 of the Administrative Procedure Act state that the government should publicly announce a legal order through a government gazette or newspaper, unless the situation is so urgent that prior announcement to the public is impossible or involves a matter related to the military, diplomacy or other issues involving national security, he added.
“We do not understand the urgency of having the amendment to the Veterinary Drugs Control Act [automatically taking] effect, as the amendment does not meet any of the criteria in the Administrative Procedure Act,” Chiu said.
NPP Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) said the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2015 published a report on its assessment of health risks posed by US pork containing ractopamine, but it failed to consider that the nation has many street food vendors and that a substantial portion of the population dine out frequently.
The report did not examine health risks facing elderly people, children or patients with chronic diseases or mention the allowable amount of ractopamine for each of these vulnerable groups, she said.
Although the 2015 report said that government agencies should regularly conduct health risk assessments based on the nation’s common dietary habits and provide updated statistics, such a statement also appeared in a similar report in 2018, Wang said, adding that it shows that the government has made hardly any progress in this regard.
The 2015 report also said that women recuperating after childbirth, who often consume pork and internal organs of pigs in Taiwan, are more likely to exceed the allowable amount of ractopamine compared with other groups, she said.
As such, the NPP would oppose the importation of internal organs of pigs from the US, she said, adding that the government should ban caterers selling meals for children and new mothers from using US pork.
Wang asked whether the government could thoroughly enforce regulations governing the labeling of US pork and beef, as well as internal organs of pigs and cattle raised in the US, as people in Taiwan consume a lot of processed meat products, such as sausages, minced pork, pork floss and meatballs.
Whether street vendors and restaurateurs would comply with the regulations by clearly labeling their food products, and whether the government has sufficient personnel or administrative resources to conduct random inspections and examine these diverse products are questionable, she said, adding that the government is obligated to explain these issues to the public.
The government “should not be in a hurry to open the import of US pork” without first conducting a comprehensive evaluation and stipulating enforceable and effective supporting measures, she said.
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