Spraying herbicide Hongdou 05 "killing weeds may harm the fetus and have neurotoxic. it is banned by the European Union, but Taiwan is open to imported red beans."

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(by upstream and downstream reporters Li Huiyi and Zheng Jieyi / tr. by Robert Taylor)

The government plans to open up herbicides for red bean defoliant, sparking controversy because of reproductive toxicity that affects fetal development, which was banned in the European Union after July 2018 and asked member states to plan exit mechanisms. China's top five red bean importing countries also do not have an open fixed herbicide allowance, and once Taiwan opens up the use of herbicide and sets the 2ppm allowable value, the standard will be more relaxed than that of the importing country.

According to official information, Taiwan is probably the only country in the world that uses herbicide as a defoliant for harvesting red beans, and specifically sets a residue allowance for this purpose. In this regard, Zhang Zhilie, director general of the Wandan Township Peasant Association in Pingtung County, Taiwan's largest red bean producing area, said that the production standards of domestic red beans should not be lower than those of other countries. "imported red beans are cheaper than us, and the production standards are higher than ours. What are we going to do with domestic red beans?"

Zhang Chih-lie, Director-General of the Meinung District Peasants' Association, Chung Ching-hui, and Kuo Hua-Jen, honorary professor of the Department of Agronomy at National Taiwan University, called on the government to accept suggestions from all walks of life, come up with international standards and professional data, and discuss openly with industry and experts and scholars.