Criticizing Ma's decision as unscientific, militias question safety of Clenbuterol

President Ma recently presided over a party caucus meeting and asked party legislators to vote and pass the "Food Sanitation Management Act Amendment Bill" which is related to the lifting of the ban on beef with ractopamine. Today, a civil society group stated on the 11th that American beef cattle are raised in an unnatural way, so ractopamine must be used to convert fat into lean meat. They also showed a scientific report on ractopamine proposed by the European Union, which concluded that current human evidence is insufficient to set a safe allowable amount, refuting the Ma government's decision as unscientific.

A civil group showed the scientific report on ractopamine proposed by the European Union. Dr. Xu Limin (speaker in the picture), a traumatologist at the National Taiwan University Hospital, said that the EU concluded that the current human evidence is insufficient to set a safe tolerance, refuting the Ma government's decision as unscientific. (Photography by Zhang Yawen)

The Legislative Yuan has entered the last week of this session. On the eve of the vote on the Esophageal Act, civil groups including the Taiwan Animal Society and the Housewives' Union held another press conference today. They pointed out that President Ma emphasized that he used scientific evidence and repeatedly reiterated that American beef with ractopamine had been scientifically evaluated by the United States and there were no safety concerns, but he deliberately ignored a scientific report issued by the European Union in 2009 that questioned ractopamine.

Dr. Xu Limin, a traumatologist at the National Taiwan University Hospital who has studied the report, said that the report of the European Food Safety Authority pointed out that the lean meat stimulant "ractopamine" is not a direct carcinogen, but it has other side effects. Human trial data is needed to evaluate consumer safety. However, currently only a "6-person trial" has been conducted by the lean meat stimulant drug manufacturer. The design of this trial has been questioned for its flaws. Therefore, the EU has concluded that the existing human trial data cannot be used as the basis for calculating the daily allowable intake (ADI), and therefore it is impossible to set a safe tolerance level (MRL).

Therefore, Dr. Hsu Li-min criticized the Ma government's proposed policy direction on U.S. beef, such as "safety tolerance", as being very unscientific. He said, "Which is more scientific, the data from interest groups such as U.S. drug dealers and meat dealers? Or is the independent and objective EU report more scientific? The public can make their own judgment."

Zhu Zenghong, executive director of the Taiwan Animal Society Research Association, pointed out that in the American beef cattle industry, most cattle are raised in overcrowded and filthy fattening farms, and are fed large amounts of concentrated feed made from corn kernels every day. Because this type of feeding method produces more fat in the meat, clenbuterol is needed to convert the fat into lean meat.

Zhu Zenghong also said that because the entire breeding method is very unnatural, the disease rate of cattle in fattening farms is relatively high, and the American beef industry uses a large amount of antibiotics. He called on consumers to think: "Is it really okay to eat such beef?" He also pointed out that there have been outbreaks in the United States where sick cows entered the meat supply chain and provided ingredients for nutritious lunches. If Taiwan really opens up, can it really ensure safety?

Civil society groups have called for more than just partial scientific evidence, and that more attention should be paid to reports that raise objections. In particular, the Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting will be held on July 2, and the agenda will include discussions on the safety assessment of ractopamine. Civil society groups have called on the government not to rush to make a statement, and it will not be too late to discuss how to respond after the international scientific assessment of clenbuterol is released.