Taiwan lawmakers blast government for expanding US beef imports

Oct 26, 2009, 6:38 GMT

   Taipei - Taiwan parliamentarians on Monday blasted the government for expanding US beef imports while a consumers group threatened to boycott all US products.

   The parliamentarians voiced strong opposition to the government's announcement Friday that Taipei would expand its US beef imports to include bone-in beef and organs that have a higher risk of carrying bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad-cow disease.

   'President Ma Ying-jeou must step down to shoulder responsibility,' said Wang Hsin-nan, a lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.

   Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang already said he was willing to resign to take responsibility for the decision.

   The Taiwan Consumers Group demanded the government reconsider its 2006 decision to resume US beef imports. It called on people in Taiwan not to eat US beef and said it does not rule out calling for a boycott of all US products.

   'The United States wants to dump garbage in Taiwan and forces us to eat US garbage,' Wu Chia-cheng, the group's secretary general, said at a news conference.

   Taiwan banned US beef imports in 2003 after the first US case of BSE was discovered.

   It partially resumed imports of US de-boned beef in 2005 but reimposed the ban two months later when the second BSE case was reported in the United States. Under repeated US demands, it resumed imports of de-boned beef from cattle under 30 months old in 2006.

   Younger cattle are considered less at risk of having BSE.

   Under Friday's agreement between Taipei and Washington, Taiwan has almost fully opened its doors to beef and beef products from the United States.