According to a recent report [1] from the UK, scientists have found that there may be more people incubating variant CJD, the human version of so-called “mad cow disease”, than previously thought. An unusual case of a 30-year-old man who died of vCJD in January this year has prompted scientists to reassess prevalence of vCJD.
About a third of the UK population have the MM homozygous genotype, and until now all the vCJD cases came from this group. However, this 30-year-old man was identified to have the MV heterozygous genotype, which is different from the rest of the 200 or so people diagnosed around the world.
It is well-known that people who are MV heterozygous incubate kuru disease (another human prion disease) for longer than those who are MM homozygous. Some MV heterozygous patients even incubated kuru for over 50 years.
Hence, if individuals with MV heterozygous genotypes are similarly susceptible to developing prion disease after exposure to mad cow disease, further vCJD cases would be expected. I think this is another sufficient reason why the current assessment of vCJD prevalence is inadequate, and the current calculation of the risk of getting vCJD does not make sense at all. [2]
Apart from typhoon disasters and congress members’ literal fightings, finally there is something else about Taiwan that has been reported thoroughly on international news media, and that is fishery. Taiwan’s fishery has been known especially for its “efficient” fishing management and the “delicious” but inexpensive shark fin soup.
Scientists have been investigating the reason for the significant decrease in the catch of fish in recent years, and they have found out that it is probably due to the 90% decrease in the number of sharks in the ocean. Because sharks are the major predators in the ocean and belong to the highest level of the marine food chain, the significant decrease of sharks will cause the soaring population of some middle level predatory fishes and hence the imbalance of the marine ecology. That is why the catch of fish has greatly decreased these years.
Furthermore, the significant decrease of sharks is due to the practice that, in order to save more room and make more money (shark fins are far more expensive than other parts of a shark), fishing ships keep only fins after catching sharks and dump dying sharks into the ocean with their fins removed to let them die gradually on the ocean bed. As a result, in order to save costs of operation and increase marginal revenue significantly, a pelagic fishing ship can be loaded with thousands of fins after a sail, which means there might be tens of thousands of sharks dying for these fins. Taiwan is known for its world-famous “fishery management techniques” in this regard.
As for the expensive price of fins, it is owing to the need and fondness for them, especially from the Taiwanese people. In the past, shark fin soup was the rare delicacy only consumed by aristocrats or rich people at some specific festivals of the year. However, following the improvement in wealth of the people, it has become a popular cuisine everyone can afford. That is why the shark fin cuisine in Taiwanese restaurants is world renown.
The following videos are CNN’s introductions to the “prosperous” shark industry, especially the one in Taiwan.
The ruling Kuomintang (KMT, the Chinese Nationalist Party) of Taiwan suffered a setback in local government’s election a few days ago, losing control of one of the most tightly contested counties to the opposition Democratic Progressive Party. [1] As a result, President Ma Ying-jeou, chairman of KMT, vowed to continue pushing for “reforms”. “Ma said the government will use the budding economic recovery to improve the people’s daily lives.” [2]
If any, the budding economic recovery in this context should mean the recovery of certain metropolitan area’s soaring house prices, the recovery of certain companies’ share prices, and the recovery of soaring petrol prices. But then, what do most of Taiwanese people’s daily lives have to do with this so-called “economic recovery”?
The economy has always been a major issue and an important appeal to the public to win elections in most democratic countries, especially Taiwan. In this country, almost every candidate, either from the ruling party or the opposition parties, would promise to improve people’s daily lives through economy.
However, only capitalists and politicians can certainly benefit from economic growth, which is usually measured by an increase in real gross domestic product (GDP). Proletarian people do not necessarily benefit from it, not even close when the so-called “economic growth” is represented by the soaring prices in the housing market, the share market, or the supermarket.
To sustainably improve people’s daily lives, a government needs to properly supervise and regulate the activities of capitalists, not to cooperate with them. A government which only values economic development rather than environmental protection can hardly protect its people’s lives, not to mention the improvement of their daily lives.
＊片頭：2009年8月的莫拉克風災（數百位臺灣人民因氣候異常、土地開發不當與救難指揮不當而喪命） The Video Above: The Disaster of Typhoon Morakot in August 2009 (Hundreds of Taiwanese people died from it due to climate change, improper land development and inadequate rescue orders.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPDVxKCr_Qs
With a speciality in cancer-curing and other related medical fields, a new branch of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital is opening at the end of this year in Taiwan. This branch is located in Mailiao Township of Yunlin County. In this county, residents’ cancer infliction rate is now 1.7 times higher than the average of residents in other cities and counties around Taiwan.
Nevertheless, this area is also the location of The Sixth Naphtha Cracking Plant owned by Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), which is the owner of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital as well. “According to the investigation report, cancer incidents have grown noticeably among residents in Mailiao township and four other adjacent townships of Taisi, Dongshih, Lunbei and Sihhu since the cracking plant began to emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in 1999. Infliction rates of liver cancer have grown 30 percent in Taisi township over the past nine years.” [1]
Under the social system of capitalism, the medical industry can usually prosper and benefit from the development of heavy industry and the defects it leaves behind, such as pollution. However, it is very rare to see a corporation group making money through these two directions at the same time. With impotence of successive governments and congresses, capitalists can amazingly make the most money out of both local people’s hard labour and health care.
Moreover, “Formosa Plastics Group’s (FPG) Sixth Naphtha Cracker Plant emits 67.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, which would require a 3,340,000 hectare forest to offset its effects. Offsetting carbon emissions from FPG’s planned steel refinery would require 740,000 hectares of forest. These two together would exceed Taiwan’s total area of 3.6 million hectares.” [2]
In fact, the green house gas emissions in Taiwan don’t need to abide by any international regulations because Taiwan has never signed any protocols in this regard, including the Kyoto Protocol. Why? Because Taiwan has never been recognised as a country by major countries and hence has never been accepted in joining any related international meetings as a sovereign state while the government of mainland China, which claims the dominion over Taiwan, has never had any de facto authority over Taiwan in any way, shape or form.
The US beef is very controversial in regard to mad cow disease even in the US itself. However, the US government has used its economical power to force South Korea and Taiwan to import its beef including particularly dangerous parts such as internal organs and mince (ground beef) respectively in 2008 and 2009, regardless of the groundswell of opposition from the people of these two countries.
Why do these people oppose the US beef? The following questions and answerings say it all.
Q: The probability of getting mad cow disease from eating the US beef (including internal organs and mince) is so low that it can be considered as zero?
A: False. The calculation of the probability is based on the data that the US has only had three cases of mad cow disease in the herd. However, the data cannot be true due to the following reasons:
1. The infected cattle are slaughtered before their disease can be detected. Usually, the mad cow disease can only be detected after the cattle are more than two years old. Nevertheless, “younger cattle could be infected and infectious, but be slaughtered for human consumption before they started showing symptoms.” [1]
2. The statistical method used by the US government is inadequate. Unlike Japan, which inspects all of their cattle, the US government has never done any census or any obligated random sampling to detect the disease. Instead, it only inspects the cattle sampled and reported by the industry itself. [2]
3. The US has intended to conceal mad cow cases. “Mr. Friedlander is a former veterinarian with the U.S. Department of Agriculture … In the early 1990s, he said he was speaking to the USDA’s chief pathologist about mad cow when the following exchange took place: ‘Lester, if you ever find mad cow disease, promise me one thing?’ he was asked. ‘What’s that?’ he responded. ‘Don’t tell anybody.’ Mr. Friedlander says he would take a lie-detector test to back up his story. ‘Once I heard that, then I knew this whole thing was a joke,’ he concluded.” [3]
Q: It will be safe as long as I only eat the US beef (including internal organs and mince) from the cattle under 30 months old?
A: False. Although the symptoms of mad cow disease usually will not show up until the infected cattle are more than two years old, the cattle without symptoms could have been infected already. In fact, the first confirmed US case of mad cow disease was “a perfectly good walking cow”. It was “just a fluke” that the cow was sent to be tested. The USDA agents even intended to stop the whistle-blowing of the cattle hand who actually killed the cow in question. [4]
Q: So far there is no one infected with Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD, the illness of human infected with mad cow disease) from eating the US beef?
A: False. The first confirmed US patient of vCJD had dwelled in the US and eaten the US beef for around ten years before she died from this disease. [5] Besides, there could be a lot of people in the US infected with this disease without showing up any symptoms yet or even died from it without being reported. It has been pointed out by some researchers that there could be a lot of patients who were diagnosed with ‘Sporadic’ CJD but actually infected with mad cow disease. However, Sporadic CJD is particularly easy to be misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, “the CDC has refused to impose a national requirement that physicians and hospitals report cases of the disease.” [6]
Q: International protocols can be implemented without being ratified by Congress or citizens?
A: False. For example, in the US, when Bill Clinton was President, a Clinton Administration official signed the Kyoto Protocol (to reduce greenhouse gas emissions) on November 12, 1998. Nevertheless, the protocol was not implemented due to its failure of being ratified by the Senate. [7]
Q: The internal regulations implemented by the administration can stop the US beef (including internal organs and mince) from flowing to markets?
A: False. The US beef (including internal organs and mince) may not show up on the market but may turn up on the black market. Once it has been imported legally, it can be eaten by consumers through various concealed ways. Unlike intestinal and stomach troubles, the disease will not be found out immediately by consumers since the incubation is too long to investigate any sources or responsibilities.
Q: It will be safe as long as I don’t choose to eat the US beef?
A: False. The US beef can not be easily distinguished from other countries’ beef. The bone of the US beef can be used to simmer for soup. The internal organs and mince of the US beef can be mixed into various processed foods (such as ham, meat balls and veggie burgers) or processed into forage for cattle, pigs, chickens, ducks, and fish so as to contaminate food chains. Once the contaminants are used as fertilizer, the soil will also be contaminated and then even eating vegetables will be dangerous as well. Besides, it has also been confirmed that the variant prion protein is also transmissible through blood transfusion so that the whole medical system will be in danger as well.
The video below is an animation about how the US beef is produced.
Taiwan, also known as Formosa (from Portuguese: (Ilha) Formosa, meaning “beautiful (island)”), is the largest island of the Republic of China (ROC) with a population of more than 23 million people, which is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China.
Since the end of World War II in 1945, the archipelago of Taiwan and nearby islands which used to be Japanese colonies has been occupied by the Republic of China. When the ruling party of the ROC, which is Kuomintang (KMT), the Chinese Nationalist Party, lost the civil war to the Communist Party in 1949, the ROC’s central government relocated to Taiwan and established Taipei as its capital; while the Communists founded the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in mainland China. Since then, the Republic of China (ROC, not to be confused with PRC, the People’s Republic of China) has always been an independent country (sovereign state) in East Asia, now commonly known as Taiwan.
The ROC government used to be the internationally recognized dictatorship authority of China, and as such was a founding member of the United Nations and one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, until being replaced by the PRC in 1971. However, because of the democratization movement of Taiwanese people since late 1970s, the ROC (Taiwan) has been evolving from a dictatorship country into a democratic country with a president elected directly by the people.
Nevertheless, due to the rising of the PRC and the pressure from its government, the ROC (Taiwan) has also evolved from a country with full global recognition into a country with only “de facto” relations with most of the countries in the world. Right now it enjoys very limited international recognition and has been rejected from joining most of the international organizations (e.g. WHO) as an independent country.
Here is a music video of a song called “UNlimited Taiwan”, which was released in 2007 by a Taiwanese band, Chthonic.
