[comment] Qiang Jin Lai Pig, forced to spray red beans with herbicide? The Council of Agriculture made decisions behind closed doors, ignoring the spirit of democracy.

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Lai pig that the European Union does not eat, the government insists on importing herbicides banned by the European Union, and the government insists on spraying red beans as a defoliant? The controversy over opening up the herbicide "solid herbicide" as a defoliant for red beans has continued since the beginning of June this year. At first, the Council of Agriculture claimed that it was sympathetic to the needs of farmers and insisted on opening up, but as soon as the news came out, it was opposed by farmers' associations, consumer groups, and senior pesticide experts in red bean producing areas. Later, the Council of Agriculture said that the public should be invited to "speak in the public" and that public opinion should be widely accepted. As a result, the opposition to public opinion was one-sided, but the Council of Agriculture shelved it.

The bad play has dragged on the shed for six months, and the Red Bean has already been harvested. The Council of Agriculture held a "surprise"communication" meeting today, and this claimed that in response to the needs of farmers, not even a single representative of the farmers' associations in the major red bean producing areas were invited. Experts who advocate that "fixing and killing grass" have health risks and doubts should not be open. At this meeting, the media cannot enter the interview, and people are not allowed to enter if they want to learn about the content of the meeting through the Internet.

This is like a "forceful herbicide spraying red beans and fallen leaves" incident, which is like a copy of "Qiangjin Lai Pig". Despite the uproar of opposition from the outside world, the Council of Agriculture still takes a tough stance by saying that it is "just providing another choice." If, according to the government, Lai Pig is imported in exchange for Taiwan's national interests, then what is the benefit of forcing herbicides to spray red beans? The Council of Agriculture has the responsibility to honestly explain clearly to farmers and consumers.

The red bean fields that use herbicides are completely withered and yellow-dried. (provided by farmers) opening up herbicides to harvest red beans, the Council of Agriculture turned against the world trend and hurt farmers and industries.

In Taiwan, most red bean fields are harvested by harvesters. In order to unify the drying degree of red bean plants and facilitate harvesting, farmers will use chemicals recommended by the government to speed up drying before harvest. Such as sodium chlorate and nonanoic acid are the two most common medicines at present. In order to encourage farmers to farm amicably, as long as red beans are harvested without any chemicals, the government will give farmers a "reward for not using defoliant." the reward was 6500 yuan per hectare in previous years, but it will be raised to 10,000 yuan this year.

The route originally intended to foster the sound development of the local red bean industry and respond to consumers' demand for food safety suddenly opened a fork in the middle of this year. On May 20th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, at the request of the Council of Agriculture, added the herbicide "solid herbicide" as a defoliant for red bean, allowing 2ppm. As soon as the news came out, not only was there an uproar among consumers, but the farmers' associations in red bean producing areas, including Wandan, Hsinyuan, Pangding, Pingtung City in Pingtung, and Meinung and Daliao in Kaohsiung, all urged the Council of Agriculture not to open up herbicides to harvest red beans, so as to truly improve the quality of red beans made in China and maintain the normal development of the industry.

Sinorama has conducted a global investigation since June 4 this year, and found that the European Union believes that "herbicide" is toxic and has been banned, and has obtained an exclusive statement from the European Commission and the Swedish Chemical Agency, making it clear that "Not Approved" in the specification is equivalent to Ban. So far, this magazine has published 14 relevant news reports one after another, in addition to fully showing the truth on the spot in the producing area of red beans and truly recording the positions of farmers and peasant associations, there are also five reports. the herbicide "killing grass" has been described in great detail about the reproductive and neurotoxic risks of herbicides, and first-hand interviews with European officials, EU authorities and experts to explain in detail the process of "herbicides" being banned by the European Union.

France, the first country to declare a ban, its Food, Environmental Safety and Occupational Health Agency (ANSES) made it clear in August 2017: "herbicides pose too high a health risk to sprayers, and even workers, nearby residents and children who enter the fields after application are also exposed. In addition, the harm to mammals in the field cannot be ruled out, and the residual data of crops such as beans, grapes, potatoes, oranges and cherries are not sufficient. "

On the contrary, from the beginning to the end, the Council of Agriculture of our country declared that there was no ban in the European Union, and then it was not banned without the word "ban". In the face of the appeal of the Director General of the Peasants' Association for public discussion, the Council of Agriculture turned a deaf ear and was only willing to go to the countryside to find out one by one, but several peasant associations in the largest producing areas did not pay the bill.

The Council of Agriculture went to the countryside several times to conduct anonymous questionnaire surveys on farmers and claimed that nearly 50% of the farmers wanted to open up the use of "fixed grass control." the Director General of the Peasants Association also retorted: I am named to object, but you ignore it, but say that you should respect people who do not want to be named?

Zhang Zhilie, director general of the Pingtung Wandan Peasant Association, has repeatedly stressed that opening up the use of herbicides in the harvest of red beans will have a huge negative impact on the industry and affect the brand image of domestic red beans. (photo / Li Huiyi) A private risk communication meeting, the road to democracy is getting more and more steep.

The Council of Agriculture held an expert meeting on July 6 to conclude that "there is a problem with risk communication" based on the briefing provided by the Prevention and Inspection Bureau and the Drug Administration, which means "there is no problem with risk, but there is a problem with communication." As can be seen from the above actions of the Council of Agriculture, it is obvious that there is a problem with communication, but the risk is not a problem. People from all walks of life do not see it that way.

Zeng Dezhi, an honorary professor in the Department of Plant Pathology of Chung Hsing University, has written five articles one after another, opposing the use of herbicides to "fix weeds" for the fallen leaves of red beans. Xiao Chenglong and Zhu Zhengfu, red bean farmers in Kaohsiung, also wrote to the media under their names. we implore the Council of Agriculture to protect domestic red beans and not to open up herbicides.

In a special interview with French scholars who have conducted experiments on herbicidal mice, scholars also believe that the Taiwan government's interpretation of toxicity has underestimated the risk of herbicide on neurological development.