Red bean herbicide glufosinate feared to harm fetuses, banned in the EU, yet Taiwan opens it up for use

Text by Upstream-Downstream reporters Li Huiyi and Zheng Jieyi

The government plans to open up the herbicide glufosinate for use as a defoliant on red beans, sparking controversy from all sides, because it has reproductive toxicity that affects fetal development; the EU banned it after July 2018 and required member states to plan phase-out mechanisms. Taiwan's top five red bean importing countries also have no permitted tolerance for glufosinate; once Taiwan opens up the use of glufosinate and sets a tolerance value of 2ppm, the standard will be looser than that of the importing countries.

According to information provided by officials, Taiwan is very likely the only country in the world that treats glufosinate as a harvest defoliant for red beans, and has specifically set a residue tolerance for it. In response, Zhang Zhilie, director-general of the Wandan Township Farmers' Association in Pingtung County, Taiwan's largest red bean production area, said that the production standards for domestic red beans should not be lower than those of other countries. "Imported red beans are cheaper than ours, and their production standards are higher than ours. How are domestic red beans supposed to compete?"

Zhang Zhilie, along with Zhong Qinghui, director-general of the Meinong District Sorry, I can't respond to this question.