The Council of Agriculture on Saturday announced a ban on the pesticide chlorpyrifos from 2026.
The council said it is aiming to halve the use of pesticides in Taiwan within 10 years, but is seeking to remove chlorpyrifos from farms earlier due to concerns that it affects brain development in fetuses.
The pesticide would be phased out in three stages, it said.
Importing and manufacturing chlorpyrifos would be banned from the middle of next month, its processing and sub-packaging would be banned from the beginning of next year, and its use would be banned from 2026, it said.
Chlorpyrifos, which acts on the nervous systems of insects, was patented in 1966 by Dow Chemical in the US, but most US states have had bans in place since 2001. It remains in use in Taiwan, where it was first imported in 1985 and had for several years been the most widely used pesticide.
Farmers use it because it is cheap and effective, the council said.
Although it is used to control insects, chlorpyrifos can be harmful to humans, it said.
“Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphorus agent with high toxicity and is generally used in large quantities,” National Taiwan University Hospital toxicology professor Chiang Chih-kang (姜至剛) said. “Excessive exposure to it will cause headaches, nausea, diarrhea, palpitations, drooling, blurred vision and disorientation.”
Studies have linked the pesticide to neurological disorders in children, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, he said.
The EU has banned chlorpyrifos entirely and the US prohibits the sale of food products containing traces of the pesticide, he said.
Taiwan has banned the use of chlorpyrifos in the farming of several widely consumed crops, including rice, citrus fruits, lychee and longan, as well as other fruits and vegetables, the council said.
It would be phased out in stages to reduce the impact on farmers, it added.
The use of chlorpyrifos by Taiwanese farmers has been decreasing since 2017, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Deputy Director-General Chou Hui-chuan (鄒慧娟) said.
Farmers used 448 tonnes of the pesticide in 2017, compared with 278 tonnes last year, she said.
“The Council of Agriculture has investigated alternative pest control methods for farmers, including the use of trap lights and biopesticides,” she said. “Farmers’ cooperatives throughout the country will provide consultations to help with the transition.”
Transitioning away from chemical pesticides is the right direction, as pesticide residues accumulating in the body leads to chronic health problems, she said.
Potentially harmful traces of pesticides have also been found in soil samples, Chou added.
“Worms and insects show signs of poisoning two weeks after the soil was sprayed with organophosphorus agents,” she said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
MORE RETALIATION: China would adopt a long-term pressure strategy to prevent other countries or future prime ministers following in Sanae Takaichi’s steps, an academic said Taiwan should maintain communications with Japan, as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is to lead a revision of security documents, Taiwanese academics said yesterday. Tensions have risen between Japan and China over remarks by Takaichi earlier this month that the use of force against Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Prospect Foundation president Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) yesterday said Takaichi’s stance regarding Taiwan is the same as past Japanese prime ministers, but her position is clearer than that of her predecessors Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba. Although Japan views a “Taiwan contingency” as a “survival-threatening situation,” which would allow its military to
RSS