5 Major Reasons Against US Beef with Ractopamine: Statement by Taiwan Rural Front

Text/ Taiwan Rural Front
 
In response to the recent controversy over whether to open the market to US beef containing ractopamine, Taiwan Rural Front presented the following five points at today's (February 15) Legislative Yuan public hearing, strongly arguing that the government should not hastily open imports:

1. Opening imports of US beef containing ractopamine (ractopamine) will cause three major harms:

1. Doubts about the health risks of ractopamine (ractopamine) to the human body have not been dispelled, which will plunge the people into incalculable health risks;
2. The abuse of ractopamine (ractopamine) will dismantle the domestic livestock industry;
3. Making the opening of the US beef market a precondition for signing the TIFA is the same old thinking of sacrificing agriculture and animal husbandry in exchange for trade liberalization; the US provides high subsidies to its agriculture and livestock industries, and if the TIFA is hastily signed, strong low-price dumping will deal another severe blow to Taiwan's agriculture and livestock industries, which have already suffered greatly from the WTO.

2.The health risks of ractopamine (ractopamine):

Many well-known domestic experts and scholars have already pointed out that ractopamine (ractopamine) may be harmful to the human body. At present, the internationally completed human trial data on ractopamine (ractopamine) are insufficient and use only healthy human subjects as samples, which may underestimate the negative effects of ractopamine (ractopamine) on human health. For this reason, only 27 countries around the world permit its use, and most of them are livestock-exporting countries. China, South Korea, Singapore and others whose dietary habits are similar to ours have not opened it for use.

Although officials have repeatedly stated that ractopamine (ractopamine) has little effect on human health, health is a vital basic right of the people, and the government has an obligation to defend it and should be all the more cautious; before doubts about the health effects of ractopamine (ractopamine) on the human body are resolved, it should not be hastily lifted, plunging the people's health into incalculable risks. Until an academic institution with international credibility proves that ractopamine (ractopamine) is completely harmless to human health, it should be comprehensively banned.

3. The abuse of ractopamine (ractopamine) will dismantle our country's livestock industry:

Once ractopamine (ractopamine) is lifted, not only beef, but also other meats containing ractopamine (ractopamine), and even feed containing ractopamine (ractopamine), may be opened to import. At present, our country adopts a policy of banning ractopamine, and the vast majority of livestock farmers do not use ractopamine to achieve the goal of lowering production costs;

Once ractopamine (ractopamine) is lifted, under the WTO framework, any member state can demand that Taiwan grant it most-favored-nation treatment on the same terms. In other words, large quantities of foreign meat that uses ractopamine (ractopamine) to lower production costs while also enjoying high subsidies will pour into Taiwan. At that time, Taiwan's livestock industry, which does not enjoy the same subsidies and protection as foreign countries and which complies with the law by not adding ractopamine, will face the predicament of a complete industrial collapse. The recent wave of opposition from Taiwan's pig farmers precisely confirms this concern.

 4. Hastily signing the TIFA will deal a severe blow to Taiwan's agriculture and livestock industries:

Because the United States, the European Union, and even Japan and South Korea all provide high subsidies to their domestic agriculture, in the past Taiwan's agriculture and livestock industries, because the government continuously cut agricultural spending in order to join the WTO, have been unable to resist the low-price dumping of foreign agricultural and livestock products that enjoy high subsidies. If the TIFA is hastily signed, this situation will be made even worse.

Taking the United States as an example, according to the 2009 agricultural census statistics of the US Department of Agriculture, in 2002 the US government gave an average subsidy of 9,251 US dollars to each farm household, and in 2007 it was as high as 9,523 US dollars. As a result of the subsidies, the United States became the world's largest exporter of agricultural products, and products such as wheat, corn, and soybeans, thanks to government subsidies, have an overwhelming "price" competitive advantage in the world agricultural trade market.

5. In fact, even if free trade is to be opened, it need not be done in a way that sacrifices the people's health and the agriculture and livestock industries.

According to WTO rules, member states may originally refuse the import of specific agricultural and livestock products on grounds such as quarantine and inspection, or because of drug residues, and may also provide income-support-type subsidies for specific areas and specific yields as well as environmental subsidies to agriculture and livestock industries, thereby increasing the competitiveness of domestic agricultural and livestock products. At present, many countries in the world, including China and the European Union, still refuse to import US beef containing ractopamine (ractopamine); and looking at the major advanced countries of the world, such as Canada, the United States, and Germany, their food self-sufficiency rates all approach or even exceed 100%, which shows that neither making concessions on health controls nor sacrificing agriculture and livestock industries is a necessary condition for free opening.

Therefore, based on the above reasons, before the health risks to the people and the threats to the agriculture and livestock industries are resolved, the import of US beef containing ractopamine (ractopamine) should not be hastily opened.