No cadmium-tainted rice sold: COA

The officials from the COA and the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said emergency measures have been taken, including the collection of all the affected rice grain and they are working on a plan to replace the soil at the 0.04-hectare rice paddy in Houbi Township, Tainan County.

The 1.3 metric tons of grain grown in the area is presently stored in a warehouse and will be destroyed on Friday, according to Tsai Hung-teh, executive secretary of the EPA's Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Fund.

COA officials said cadmium, a bluish-white metallic chemical element used especially for protective plating, will not get into plants but will stay in soil.

They said the affected soil will be replaced soon.

The EPA confirmed that the source of the contamination is a factory that processes building materials that was constructed in the area three years ago.

Citing the results of tests by the Tainan County Government, Tsai at the EPA said soil of rice paddies bordering a metal-making slag recycling plant was found to contain excessive amounts of chromium -- over 692 ppm, or more than two times the EPA safety limit of 250 ppm.

He said rice grain samples were tested in September after receiving reports from local farmers who complained that their rice plants turned black and withered to death in the wake of Typhoon Morakot that hit southern Taiwan in early August.

“Initial tests show that about 0.4 hectares of farmland have been contaminated by chromium,” Tsai said.

The county's environmental authorities have ordered the recycling plant operator to pay the cost for dumping and destroying the contaminated rice, he added.

In addition, Tsai said, farmers can also ask the company to compensate them for their losses.

EPA Vice Minister Chang Tzu-ching said at a Legislative Yuan meeting that his agency will assist farmers in seeking compensation for their losses and restoring the contaminated soil.

“The EPA will do its best to return clean plots of land to the farmers,” Chang promised.

Chang was asked to respond to a report in a major local newspaper that farmlands in Houbi have been seriously contaminated by chromium from a nearby steel slag recycling plant that was established three years ago.

Because steel slag looks like clay, farmers at first mistook it for dumped clay, according to the report.

The contamination situation escalated in the wake of Typhoon Morakot, as large amounts of chromium from the flooded recycling plant were believed to have leached into nearby farmlands.

Commenting on the report, Chang said the Tainan County Government is handling the issue and that his agency will further investigate the case, including a thorough inspection of adjacent rice paddies and vegetable farmland.

“The initial investigation might not be meticulous enough,” but the agency will conduct a further probe and obtain more information about the extent and cause of damage, he explained.

Noting that the EPA has technologies to restore contaminated soil, Chang reiterated that the agency will offer all necessary assistance to Houbi farmers.

Rice produced at Houbi township has gained growing popularity among Taiwan consumers because of the documentary “The Last Rice Farmer” featuring the grain production in the area.

The rice paddy contamination was reported less than a week after nearly 10,000 ducks in Daliao Township of Kaohsiung County were culled over a similar pollution problem at an illegal duck farm operating at an industrial dump site that was found to contain excessive dioxin.

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