Ractopamine Safety News Bureau Million Propaganda Control Yuan Finds Improper, Sends Letter Requesting Executive Yuan Review

Foreword:

After the Executive Yuan decided in March of this year that the policy direction for imported beef would be "safe tolerance" for the use of the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine, the Government Information Office spent one million yuan (1,056,000 yuan) to produce various DM flyers, folded leaflets and booklets, promoting to the public that the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine is "safe" and asking the public to feel reassured.

After investigating this matter, the Control Yuan concluded that although this action by the Government Information Office did not violate the various provisions of the "Government Procurement Act," ractopamine is still currently classified as a "banned drug," yet a government agency printed DM flyers promoting it as "safe, with no need to worry," which could easily mislead citizens into neglecting the possible health hazards of ractopamine. At the same time, the various government control measures promoted in these leaflets had not yet occurred, and the Executive Yuan needed to "implement them in practice" to avoid "losing the people's trust."

Below is the full text of the Control Yuan's letter requesting the Executive Yuan to "review and improve," provided for citizens' reference.

Original text published by the Control Yuan --

The former Government Information Office printed and distributed ractopamine promotional materials; although investigation found no violation of law, it was still improper, and the Control Yuan sent a letter requesting the Executive Yuan to review and improve

The joint meeting of the Finance and Economics Committee and the Education and Culture Committee of the Control Yuan passed the investigation report by Control Yuan members Cheng Jen-hung, Yang Mei-ling and Yu Teng-fang into the former Government Information Office's recent printing and distribution of ractopamine promotional materials. Some legislators believed that the office was promoting a banned drug and should be fined under the "Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation," and that the relevant administrative agencies were involved in misconduct.

After this Yuan sent a letter requesting the former Government Information Office to provide case file materials and interviewed relevant supervisory personnel, and after the domestic news division business of that office was reorganized into the Executive Yuan Spokesperson's Office (a newly established agency on May 20, 2011, taking over the former Government Information Office's domestic publicity business), a comprehensive review of its reply, interview responses and related materials found the following matters requiring improvement by the Executive Yuan:

1. Regarding outside questions that the former Government Information Office "used websites and publicity materials to promote the government's policy direction on opening up ractopamine, thereby speaking for a banned drug, promoting a banned drug, and violating Criminal Code provisions," although the office has already offered clarification and explanation, its spending of public budget to promote ractopamine, which is still currently a banned veterinary drug, may cause resentment among operators still being penalized for violations involving this banned drug, and may thereby affect the government's bargaining chips and room in foreign trade negotiations. It is found that the appropriateness of this was not fully and properly assessed.

According to former Government Information Office Director-General Yang Yung-ming's statement on March 20, 2011, the office had a responsibility to explain the content of major policies to the people, and therefore, based on the Executive Yuan's policy direction on the ractopamine issue, produced leaflets and folded brochures so that the public could better understand and face the importance of the issue from different angles. Director Wu Chiu-mei of the office's Domestic News Division also stated the next day at a public hearing titled "Who Knows About Meat Safety?" held by the Legislative Yuan's Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee that one of the former Government Information Office's main duties was social communication on important national policies and important issues related to public welfare. Because of this responsibility, for the government's 16-character policy principle on this matter, it planned different forms of promotional materials. The channels for these promotional materials included newspapers and magazines, hoping that through diverse channels the public could have a clear and comprehensive concept of the major issue and the entire policy meaning.

Because ractopamine is still currently a banned veterinary drug announced by the Executive Yuan's Council of Agriculture, although the former Government Information Office's spending of public budget to promote the government's proposed major policy of "conditionally opening imports of American beef" did not violate relevant laws and regulations, it may still cause resentment among operators still being penalized for violations involving this banned drug (foreign imported products would be allowed to use it, while domestic products would not be allowed to use it), and because the above promotional action amounted to acknowledging the legality of ractopamine and revealed its bottom line before negotiations, it may affect the government's economic departments' bargaining chips and room in foreign trade negotiations. It is found that the appropriateness of this was not fully and properly assessed.

2. The former Government Information Office only provided material on the "compilation of positive opinions from scholars on opening up imports of American beef" for promotional work, which could easily mislead the public into neglecting the possible health hazards of ractopamine and should be reviewed and improved to avoid unnecessary controversy.

From March 6 to March 16, 2011, the Domestic News Division of the former Government Information Office edited and compiled "compilation of positive opinions from scholars on opening up imports of American beef" material for government ministries and commissions to use in expanded policy promotion. The principle that "in selecting news, balanced reporting of positive and negative sides should be adopted" is meant to avoid the biased practice of reporting only good news and not bad news. This is especially true for health incidents involving the safety and sanitation of meat consumed by citizens, which should not be treated lightly. If the Domestic News Division of the former Government Information Office one-sidedly collected only material on the "compilation of positive opinions from scholars on opening up imports of American beef," it relatively discarded different opinions that "ractopamine may cause harm to human health," causing consumers to receive only positive information and not know or neglect its possible negative health hazards, so that when purchasing imported American beef they could not make a wiser and more precise choice.

3. The 6 specific measures set out in the former Government Information Office's "ractopamine issue leaflet," since they were widely promoted by that office and relevant ministries and commissions to make them known to all citizens, once the relevant statutory procedures are complete, the Executive Yuan should supervise the responsible agencies to truly implement them, so as to avoid losing the people's trust and damaging the government's credibility.

Control Yuan member Cheng Jen-hung

Recommended Reading

The leanness-enhancing drug case file: key facts, always at your fingertips!