EcoWaste Coalition Honors Taiwanese food safety inspector who detected DEHP contamination

The EcoWaste Coalition on Friday gave a "Salamat Po" award to the woman behind the massive recall of Taiwanese beverage and food products containing a cancer-causing industrial chemical.

Citing latest available data from Taiwan's official website, the toxic watchdog reported that a total of 746 products from 216 companies have been listed as contaminated with di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate or DEHP plasticizer.

In a simple event held outside the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Makati City, Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the Philippines, the environmentalists symbolically presented the award to “Mrs. Yang,” the Taiwanese food safety inspector, “for her perseverance in protecting the public good.”

Wearing traditional Chinese costumes, the environmentalists commended the 52-year old employee of Taiwan’s Department of Health - Food and Drug Administration (DOH-FDA) for her professional dedication that led to the detection of DEHP, a toxic substance used as plasticizer, in some Taiwanese drinks and foods.

“Mrs. Yang” was identified by Lo Chi-fang, Secretary-General of DOH-FDA, as the person responsible for detecting the DEHP contamination, refusing to disclose "Mrs. Yang's" complete name to protect her privacy.

“In the face of the snowballing toxic food crisis in Taiwan, we take a breather to say ‘salamat po’ to ‘Mrs. Yang’ for her priceless service to public health and safety,” said retired nurse Elsie Brandes-De Veyra of the EcoWaste Coalition, which is campaigning for consumer access to information and consumer protection against hazardous chemicals in goods.

The "Salamat Po" award stated that “through the faithful performance of her duty, Mrs. Yang has prevented the distribution and sale of more DEHP-tainted products in Taiwan and in importing countries like the Philippines, thus reducing consumer exposure to the cancer-causing DEHP, a toxic additive to plastics.”

“Mrs. Yang’s meticulous and faithful performance of her job as a food safety inspector should be emulated by all public servants, especially by government officials and employees charged with ensuring that manufacturers and businesses fully comply with health and environmental laws such as those regulating chemical substances in products,” the award text noted.

“Mrs. Yang is an exemplary model of a conscientious government regulator that every society needs in order to eliminate toxic threats to public health - particularly to the most vulnerable population groups - and the environment,” the award further stated.

“We hope her action will inspire increased consumer vigilance against toxic harm and bring about lasting chemical reforms in our societies, including the implementation of toxics use reduction and clean production, food traceability processes and good manufacturing audits, for the sake of public health and safety,” the award emphasized.

At the same time, the EcoWaste Coalition lauded the decision by local food and drug regulators led by FDA Director Suzette Lazo to protect local consumers from DEHP exposure with the issuance of FDA Advisory 2011-008, which directs the immediate recall of tainted goods from Taiwan.

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Environment group lauds Taiwanese inspector for detecting DEHP in food products

To mark the World Environment Day, the EcoWaste Coalition on Friday gave a “Salamat Po” award to the woman behind the massive recall of Taiwanese beverage and food products containing a cancer-causing industrial chemical.

Citing latest available data from the Taiwan’s official website, the toxic watchdog reported that a total of 746 products from 216 companies have been listed as contaminated with di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate or DEHP plasticizer.

In a simple event held outside the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Makati City, Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the Philippines, the environmentalists symbolically presented the award to “Mrs. Yang,” the Taiwanese food safety inspector, “for her perseverance in protecting the public good.”

Wearing traditional Chinese costumes, the environmentalists commended the 52-year old employee of Taiwan’s Department of Health – Food and Drug Administration (DOH-FDA) for her professional dedication that led to the detection of DEHP, a toxic substance used as plasticizer, in some Taiwanese drinks and foods.

“Mrs. Yang” was identified by Lo Chi-fang, Secretary-General of DOH-FDA, as the person responsible for detecting the DEHP contamination, refusing to disclose “Mrs. Yang’s” complete name to protect her privacy.

“In the face of the snowballing toxic food crisis in Taiwan, we take a breather to say ‘salamat po’ to ‘Mrs. Yang’ for her priceless service to public health and safety,” said retired nurse Elsie Brandes-De Veyra of the EcoWaste Coalition, which is campaigning for consumer access to information and for consumer protection against hazardous chemicals in goods.

The “Salamat Po” award stated that “through the faithful performance of her duty, Mrs. Yang has prevented the distribution and sale of more DEHP-tainted products in Taiwan and in importing countries like the Philippines, thus reducing consumer exposure to the cancer-causing DEHP, a toxic additive to plastics.”

“Mrs. Yang’s meticulous and faithful performance of her job as a food safety inspector should be emulated by all public servants, especially by government officials and employees charged with ensuring that manufacturers and businesses fully comply with health and environmental laws such as those regulating chemical substances in products,” the award text noted.

“Mrs. Yang is an exemplary model of a conscientious government regulator that every society needs in order to eliminate toxic threats to public health – particularly to the most vulnerable population groups – and the environment,” the award further stated.

“We hope her action will inspire increased consumer vigilance against toxic harm and bring about lasting chemical reforms in our societies, including the implementation of toxics use reduction and clean production, food traceability processes and good manufacturing audits, for the sake of public health and safety,” the award emphasized.

At the same time, the EcoWaste Coalition lauded the decision by local food and drug regulators led by FDA Director Suzette Lazo to protect local consumers from DEHP exposure with the issuance of FDA Advisory 2011-008, which directs the immediate recall of tainted goods from Taiwan.

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Eco group asks DepEd to take steps vs DEHP-tainted products

An environmental group asked the Department of Education (DepEd) to take measures to protect students from food items tainted with DEHP or di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate.

The EcoWaste Coalition said the DepEd can now take action now that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified the products suspected of being contaminated with DEHP.

DEHP, a suspected carcinogen, can damage the kidneys, liver and lungs, and cause reproductive and developmental disorders such as underdeveloped penises and testicles in boys and early puberty in girls.

“Now that we know which products from Taiwan are tainted with DEHP, we call upon our education officials to welcome the new academic year with an enthusiastic campaign on food safety," EcoWaste president Roy Alvarez said in a blog post.

He added the food safety awareness and action campaign should be rolled out in collaboration with school administrators, teachers, non-teaching personnel, students, parents, and food service providers, concessionaires and vendors.

On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a tentative list of products believed to be contaminated with DEHP.

Alvarez said the campaign’s immediate objective should be to keep the tainted goods away from school canteens, snack kiosks, and convenience stores near schools.

The group also said school officials should initiate dialogues with canteen operators and food concessionaires to ensure that no DEHP-tainted goods are used or offered for sale to students.

On the other hand, it said convenience stores should not be allowed to sell recalled goods or high-risk products from Taiwan that have no safety certifications.

It added parents should exercise their right to be inquisitive if only to ensure that their children are not fed with the tainted items.

“You have the undeniable right to ask for full product details, secure safety guarantee for your kids and get the best value for your hard-earned money," Alvarez said.

EcoWaste also sought a crackdown of sorts on other unhealthy foods.

“Just as important is the objective of educating parents, students and other stakeholders to shun unhealthy foods such as those laden with synthetic and toxic chemicals, and those high in fat, salt and sugar," he said.

FDA advisory

In an advisory on Wednesday, the FDA listed the products, "whether registered or not with the FDA," that will be recalled and disposed of.

The FDA said products registered but not identified in the list shall be withdrawn from the market, and laboratory analysis will be required from them to confirm the absence of DEHP.

Only then shall these products be allowed for redistribution, it added.

The full list can be downloaded from the FDA website at http://www.bfad.gov.ph.

On Wednesday afternoon, the FDA uploaded a summary of implicated products worldwide, which included products from Taiwan to Singapore, Hong Kong, Xiamen and Beijing (China), and Canada.

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DepEd urged to bolster steps to protect kids from DEHP-tainted products

With schools set to reopen on June 6, a toxic watchdog exhorted the Department of Education (DepEd) to initiate proactive measures that will protect students from health-damaging foods and drinks, especially the blacklisted products from Taiwan.

“Now that we know which products from Taiwan are tainted with DEHP, we call upon our education officials to welcome the new academic year with an enthusiastic campaign on food safety," said Roy Alvarez, EcoWaste coalition president.

The food safety awareness and action campaign, according to Alvarez, should be rolled out in collaboration with school administrators, teachers, non-teaching personnel, students, parents, and food service providers, concessionaires and vendors.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday released a tentative list of beverage and food products believed to be contaminated with di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate or DEHP, the dangerous chemical blamed for the still unfurling toxic food scandal in Taiwan.

“The campaign’s immediate objective should be to keep the tainted goods away from school canteens and snack kiosks, as well as convenience stores near schools,” Alvarez said.

“Just as important is the objective of educating parents, students and other stakeholders to shun unhealthy foods such as those laden with synthetic and toxic chemicals, and those high in fat, salt and sugar," he added.

School officials should instigate urgent dialogues with canteen operators and food concessionaires to ensure that no DEHP-tainted goods are used or offered for sale to students, the EcoWaste Coalition suggested.

Convenience stores should in no way sell recalled goods or sell high-risk products from Taiwan that have no safety certifications, the group emphasized.

The EcoWaste Coalition also stressed the importance of parents exercising their right to be inquisitive if only to ensure that their children are not fed with injurious stuff.

“You have the undeniable right to ask for full product details, secure safety guarantee for your kids and get the best value for your hard-earned money,” Alvarez said.

Some of the items in the FDA-issued list of DEHP-tainted products from Taiwan include fruit juices, fruit juice powders, fruit concentrates, fruit candies, fruit tablets, fruit powders, sports drinks, teas, jelly and yoghurt.

DEHP, a suspected carcinogen, can damage the kidneys, liver and lungs, and cause reproductive and developmental disorders such as underdeveloped penises and testicles in boys and early puberty in girls.

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FDA says ‘high-risk’ food items have harmful chemical DEHP

With school opening in a few days, families shopping for snacks and “baon” for students should read food labels carefully.

The Food and Drug Authority (FDA) issued an alert for “high-risk” food products from Taiwan that contain the potentially harmful chemical Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP).

Supermarkets and retail stores will be asked to temporarily remove Taiwan-made “sports drinks, fruit juices and soft drinks”—until tests are conducted to determine if they are safe for public consumption, said the FDA advisory.

No brand names were cited since the government agency is still awaiting for a list of names from FDA counterparts in Taiwan.

In Manila, watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition went out and bought 30 bottles of various Taiwan-made beverages from grocery stores and supermarkets and posted a photo of the products in their blog.

The coalition urged the FDA to go beyond “monitoring” in the wake of the food-safety scandal in Taiwan, and to order all vendors to immediately stop selling until tests prove the products are DEHP-free and safe for human consumption.

The Taiwanese government last week ordered a massive recall of six categories of beverage and food products suspected of being tainted with DEHP—fruit juices, sports drinks, teas, fruit jams and preserves, food powders, and food or food supplement tablets.

As a further precautionary step, the Taiwanese government has likewise ordered schools to remove such products from canteens, candy shops and vending machines until they are proven safe, the EcoWaste Coalition said. In Manila, FDA Deputy Director Nazarita Tacandong said they have started collecting samples of juices for laboratory testing.

In its May 27 advisory, FDA Acting Director Suzette H. Lazo described DEHP as a substance used as a “plasticizer” in the making of medical devices like intravenous bags and tubing, blood bags and infusion tubing, and nasogastric tubes. High doses or prolonged exposure can have harmful effects.

“Children are especially prone to the harmful effects of high doses of DEHP or to repeated exposure, which can lead to testicular effects, fertility problems and toxicity to kidneys,” said Lazo.

Taiwanese authorities discovered that DEHP had been illegally added to a food product raw material known as “cloudy agent” used for emulsification. The Taiwan government informed the Department of Health that the material may have been imported to the Philippines by a company. Authorities are trying to trace the local counterpart of this company.

Among the products pulled out from store shelves in Taiwan are energy drinks, bottled tea and juices, fruit jam, and fruit jelly with ingredients made by Yu Shen Chemical Company.

The Taiwan FDA website identified the contaminated products as:
-Nature House Lactic Acid Bacteria (apple vinegar-flavored lactic acid powder) produced by King Car Group;
-Skinny Dietary Drinks by Chang Gung Biotechnology Corp.;
-Taiwan Sugar Ginger Clam Tablets by Taiwan Sugar Corporation; and,
-Dongli Sports Drinks and Dongli Lemon Sports Drinks.

As of May 27, the Taiwan FDA reported that “up to 465,638 bottles of DEHP-tainted beverages have been pulled out from store shelves. Also, up to 270,822 boxes and 68,924 packs of powdered probiotics and 28,539 kilos of fruit juices, fruit jam, powder and syrup, and yoghurt powder have been removed from shelves,” according to EcoWaste Coalition, an environment watchdog.

The group said that to date, close to 500 product items manufactured by 155 Taiwanese food and drink companies have been found to contain DEHP.

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Albay’s ‘Plastic Ban’ campaign starts in June

Albay province will start implementing the ban on the use of plastics ordinance in June that will lead to full enforcement of its provisions by March 2012.

The ban will start with an information and education campaign (IEC).

According to Gov. Joey Salceda, “Plastic ban in Albay will take effect on March 2012 and Board Member Arnold Embestro, who is the chairman of the Committee on Environment, will lead a massive IEC campaign starting June 2011.”

Learning from China, "white pollution" refers to plastic bags. "Bookstores and pharmacies will be forbidden to give out free plastic bags, supermarkets have had to charge for shopping bags since June 1, 2008 when China also banned the production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags, becoming one of only a few nations around the world to take such tough measures,” Salceda said.

Salceda said the Albay version is positively being welcome by his constituents.

One of them, Donnaven Arizapa, a daughter of a sari-sari store operator in this city commented “what my mom does is to reuse plastic bags as container for retailing charcoal, she has been practicing this even before the inception of the ordinance.”

Embestro said Albay in its desire to reduce if not totally eliminate the use of plastic bags as packaging materials, encourages the utilization of alternative packaging materials such as woven native bags (bayong), reusable cloth shopping bags (katsa), paper bags and other similar materials (banana leaves, taro leaves, etc.) and, at the same time, enjoying the promotion of the “MAGDARA nin SADIRiNG KAAGAN Program”(MSKP) (bring your own bag program).

The ordinance aims to lessen plastic pollution and boost environment protection, and in the interest of public health and safety.

Any establishments found violating the provision of this ordinance shall be penalized: first offense - written notice of warning; second offense - P2,000 fine and recommendation for 15 days temporary suspension of business permit; third offense - P3,000 fine and recommendation for 30 days temporary suspension of business permit and fourth offense - recommendation for cancellation of business permit.

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Chinatown stores asked to stop selling Taiwan food products

An environmental group is urging store owners in Chinatown in Binondo, Manila, to be on the alert for contaminated Taiwan-made food products following a recent Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) warning.

The FDA recently advised the public to avoid Taiwanese fruit jams and preserves, fruit juices, sports drinks, teas, food powders and food or food supplement tablets, while the Taiwan government has yet to identify products illegally containing Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a plastic-making chemical that can be dangerous when ingested in high doses.

The chemical could cause infertility and block development of male sex organs, FDA officials said.

Earlier this month, Taiwan issued a major recall of products, including more than 460,000 bottles of sports drinks and fruit juice, over fears they contained the chemical widely used in manufacturing PVC products.

Taipei warned Manila last week that DEHP could have been illegally added to food products that were exported to the Philippines.

On Tuesday morning, the EcoWaste Coalition went from store to store in Chinatown, bearing placards in Chinese and English that said “Don’t sell unless proven DEHP–free.”

They stopped by stores from Binondo Church to Sta. Cruz Church, weaving their way through Ongpin, Carvajal, Salazar, Masangkay, T. Alonzo and T. Mapua streets.

They gave supermarkets, groceries and drug stores a list of DEHP–contaminated products downloaded from the Taiwanese government website, and asked the sellers to pull out “high-risk” Taiwanese products from their shelves.

In a statement, Aileen Lucero, chemical safety campaigner of EcoWaste Coalition, appealed to “all importers, distributors, and vendors of high-risk beverage, food and medicinal goods from Taiwan to temporarily stop from selling such products until consumer safety from DEHP is totally guaranteed.”

“To date, almost 500 product items manufactured by 155 Taiwanese food and drink companies have been found to contain DEHP,” EcoWaste said in a statement.

The group also advised sellers that products that fail to secure DEHP-free certifications should be returned to importers or distributors for safe disposal.

The FDA had earlier warned that DEHP, especially when taken by children, could lead to testicular defects, kidney and fertility problems, and even cancer.

The FDA is monitoring some imported Taiwanese sport drinks, fruit juices and soft drinks that Taipei said may contain excessive amounts of DEHP, FDA spokesperson Jesusa Joyce Cirunay said.

“Our government has asked Taiwan for a list, and we are tracking these products,” she added.

Cirunay did not name the brands on the list, saying no traces of DEHP contamination have been found and there have been no reports of people falling ill in the Philippines.

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