Soil pollution controls relaxed: how is food safety to be safeguarded?

On the 10th and 11th of last month, the Environmental Protection Administration held a public hearing on the draft amendment to the "Soil Pollution Control Standards," and at the request of environmental groups it went on to hold public hearings in four locations - north, central, south and east. (Although I have been completely unable to find any information about these four hearings.) The EPA had originally refused to hold a hearing in the east on the grounds that no one would come, so I and Auntie Lanxiang and a few other "people" went to attend this hearing held in Taitung.

But on the surface, this draft amendment simply adds organic compounds, oils and propellants/explosives that were not previously subject to controls to the list, while for heavy metals it tightens controls where they should be tightened and relaxes them where they should be relaxed, based on health risk, crop production and soil background values and with reference to foreign standards, and at the same time, in line with world trends, adds control standards for industrial zones and areas of dense industry.

At first glance this draft revision seems quite reasonable, and I was momentarily fooled by it, but a closer look reveals that it is riddled with problems. First, the newly listed organic compounds are limited to just eight chlorinated ones, yet anyone with even a little knowledge of chemistry knows that organic compounds are as numerous as the stars - how can controlling just these few be enough?

Next, regarding the two heavy metals copper and zinc, the standards are to be relaxed on the basis of an extremely simple rice field trial alone - isn't that decision too hasty and arbitrary? And most terrifying of all is the addition of control standards for industrial zones and areas of dense industry, all of which are five times the ordinary level, which makes me think of the government's recent insistence on opening up Taiwan to scrap metal imports from China - could this be the preparation made for that? Can industry not develop without such loose standards, and can the economy not improve? Moreover, Taiwan is a narrow island with a dense population, and factories are often separated from farmland or residential areas by nothing more than a wall or a road. Who can guarantee that pollution from industrial zones will never affect the farmland or homes next door?

What is even more infuriating is that the EPA seems to have no intention of discussing anything with the public. Even now I still cannot find any information at all about the four hearings in the north, central, south and east; almost no one knew these four hearings were taking place, and the officials sent to hold the hearings were utterly careless, keeping the briefings as perfunctory as possible and having no wish at all for people to understand them. The masses of data may or may not be genuine, with no way to verify them, and their answers to questions dodged the crucial points - truly maddening.

Now, as the food safety storm continues to rage, the government actually wants to start polluting at the source, the farmland - is it complaining that health insurance spending and the black hole are not big enough? So I earnestly ask all friends who want to eat healthy food and want good health to pay close attention to this issue and forcefully stop the government's perverse actions, because the cleanliness and health of the soil is absolutely non-negotiable.

Finally, thanks go to the Taitung chapter of the Wilderness Society and the Environmental Protection Union and all the environmental groups that came out in support, and who held a press conference more than ten minutes before the hearing began to express their firm opposition to the government's relaxation of soil pollution standards, as well as to the friends from the Arise Church and all the friends who care about this issue who came to lend their support, and to the reporters from Public Television and Hakka TV, the only two outlets that came to cover it on site. This issue needs to be known by more people.

Other related detailed reports:
Soil pollution controls relaxed for heavy metals; environmental groups oppose http://e-info.org.tw/node/97363

Soil heavy metal pollution controls: industrial zone controls to be relaxed? http://e-info.org.tw/node/96169

Soil control standards amended: arsenic and lead tightened, copper and zinc relaxed http://e-info.org.tw/node/95924