‘STRIKING A BALANCE’: By allowing the importation of pork containing traces of ractopamine, Taiwan can set up more international trade partnerships, an expert saidBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
Taiwan can continue to import pork products containing traces of ractopamine within the legal limits set by the government, after Taiwanese yesterday voted against reinstating a ban.
Official numbers showed that 3,936,554 people voted in favor of banning the imports, while 4,131,203 voted against the proposal.
The government’s decision to allow the imports from the beginning of this year stirred controversy, as many said that the leanness-enhancing additive might affect the health of Taiwanese.
Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲), who voted near his registered address in Taichung yesterday morning, told reporters that the US government this year withdrew preferential tariffs of
Su Wei-shuo (蘇偉碩) yesterday filed rumor-spreading and libel charges against Council of Agriculture (COA) Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) over statements about US trade policy concerning pork.
Su, a former physician at the Tainan branch of Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital and a member of an alliance of groups that opposes the use leanness-enhancing agents on pigs, including ractopamine, filed the charges at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
Su quoted the COA as saying in a news release that Taiwan stands to lose beneficial trade arrangements if a referendum today to prohibit imports of pork products containing traces of ractopamine is successful.
The document claimed
Taipei, Dec. 2 (CNA) Taiwan's long-mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is a "failed investment project," Taipei City Councilor Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) said at a televised forum Thursday, urging people to vote "no" in an upcoming referendum that will determine the power plant's fate.
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