Beef boycott kicks off

Hau said the city government's decision to boycott the protocol inked recently by the Department of Health (DOH) with the U.S. on opening Taiwan's doors wider to U.S. beef imports was made purely over health concerns.

The mayor said he fully understands the dilemma that the central government was facing when it signed the protocol, but he agreed with a senior government official who said recently that "opening the market does not mean that the government will push sales."

Hau said he supports the boycott drive simply because he is the mayor of Taipei and responsible for overseeing the health of city residents and based on professional knowledge that he learned as a student and professor of food science and nutrition.

Mayor Jason Hu of Taichung City decided to support the campaign boycotting internal organs from U.S. cattle.

The mayor and his staff will soon announce a series of measures and procedures to protect consumers living and working in the major metropolis in central Taiwan.

Hu, a former foreign ministers, said the decision of the central government over the beef trade should be respected.

Nevertheless, the local-level administrators should not neglect their duty of safeguarding the local residents' welfare.

Officials at the Presidential Office and the Cabinet said they respect the policies taken by the administrators.

The U.S. negotiators have been sticking to a tactic of placing the beef trade as a precondition for any bilateral trade talks, giving the government led by President Ma Ying-jeou little choice, according to some sources.

Ma is expected to personally give clarification on the decision-making process and the factors behind accepting the U.S. demand.

But the initiative of boycotting the beef viscera deemed as unsafe by local governments and consumers groups will help get the central government off the hook by leaving the final choice to the people.

Reflecting concerns of parents, Wang Chun-chuan, director-general of the Department of Physical Education under the Ministry of Education, said the ministry will not encourage schools around the country to use U.S. beef products when preparing meals for students until their safety is certified by the health authorities.

Kaohsiung Magistrate Yang Chiu-hsing said schools in the southern county will be forbidden from preparing meals with U.S. ground beef or offal.

Yang also demanded that restaurants and supermarkets disclose the origin of their beef products to allow consumers to make their own choices.

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