The Consumers’ Foundation and several civic groups yesterday launched an online petition to demand that the government scrap its executive order easing restrictions on imports of US pork containing the leanness-enhancing agent ractopamine.
Ractopamine is harmful to animals and there is insufficient data on its effects on the health of humans, the foundation said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Aug. 28 announced that, starting on Jan. 1, Taiwan would ease restrictions on imports of US pork containing traces of the animal feed additive, as well as beef from cattle aged 30 months or older.
Photo: CNA
Seeing the number of people who sign the petition, the government would hopefully take what people are saying more seriously, the foundation said, adding that the government could use the petition as a bargaining tool in economic and trade negotiations with other nations.
Toxicology Society of Taiwan chairman Li Jih-heng (李志恆) said that although the Codex Alimentarius Commission set safety standards for ractopamine two years ago, they were based on a study that included only six participants.
The European Food Safety Authority has questioned the results, saying that they were only preliminary and, as it was not a double-blind study, the results might be biased, Li said.
The level of neurotoxins in ractopamine and the effects on people with cardiovascular disease are unclear, he said.
Some animal studies have identified links between ractopamine and uterine fibroids, non-cancerous tumors that can grow in the uterus, he added.
Psychiatrist Su Wei-shuo (蘇偉碩) said that despite the government’s claims that ractopamine only poses health risks if consumed in large amounts, long-term exposure to low doses is more dangerous.
Such exposure can affect fertility, increase the prevalence of certain types of cancer and aggravate schizophrenia, Su added.
The petition can be found at https://reurl.cc/4mbLrX.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS