DOH reassures public there is no danger to those who eat less than 12 ducks a month

2005-09-29 / Taiwan News, Staff Reporter / By Su Chueh-yu

The disclosure that potentially contaminated ducks and duck eggs had reached the market stunned local residents earlier this week, but the Council of Agriculture insisted yesterday it has taken emergency measures to prevent any danger to consumers.

As part of ongoing testing of Changhua County duck farms since June, when many were found to be contaminated by the toxic chemical dioxin, the county's environmental bureau found that two eggs out of five samples taken from a duck farm in Shenkang in late August exceeded European Union dioxin standards.

The county bureau informed the Environmental Protection Administration of the test results when they became available on September 21.

The EPA, however, did not notify the COA to investigate further until September 27, sparking allegations that the delay permitted contaminated eggs to hit retail markets.

COA Chairman Lee Chin-lung (李金龍) denied the charges, and said his agency was holding approximately 3,000 ducks and 6,000 kilograms of duck eggs originating from the farm pending further tests. If dioxin levels exceed safety limits, the birds and the eggs will be destroyed, he pledged.

The Department of Health attempted to reassure an anxious public that even if some of the farm's products had reached market, they posed little danger.

"You're not in danger of absorbing too much dioxin if you don't eat over 12 ducks in a month," the DOH said.

Pinpointing the source of the dioxin in the area seemed to grow even more confused yesterday.

When duck eggs produced in Changhua County's Siansi Township were found with high dioxin levels in June, a nearby recycler of toxic ash was blamed and the factory was closed down.

The EPA then disclosed on Tuesday that animal feed used on the farms could also be the culprit, but the COA pointed to the soil yesterday as another possible source of the toxic chemical.

The COA recently conducted an experiment breeding 200 ducks, with half the animals held in enclosures and the other half allowed to roam freely on the farm.

All the ducks were given the same brand of animal feed, COA said.

Three months into the experiment, the council observed a higher level of dioxin in the free-range ducks. Since ducks are believed to eat soil, the initial results of the experiment led the COA to believe that the farm's soil could be a possible dioxin source.

The COA stressed that their preliminary results did not negate the possibility that other dioxin sources existed.

The DOH has also performed blood tests on 25 duck farm owners in Changhua since June and found that seven contained blood levels of dioxin exceeding the WHO standard of 35 pico-grams per gram of fat. But no health deficiencies were found, the DOH reported.