Week7 - Taiwan’s ‘Gutter Oil’ Scandal

By THE EDITORIAL BOARDSEPT. 18, 2014

Since Sept. 4, the Taiwanese authorities have been struggling to control a food scare caused by 645 tons of adulterated cooking oil produced by the Chang Guann Company and distributed to more than 1,200 restaurants, schools and food processors. As of Monday, health authorities had identified a wide array of more than 1,300 food products tainted by the oil, including instant noodles, snacks, cakes, dumplings, bread, canned pork, meat paste and glutinous rice. Taiwan obviously needs a stronger food-safety policy with meaningful penalties.

Chang Guann has been buying what’s known as “gutter oil” — recycled oil from restaurant waste and animal byproducts — from an illegal factory and mixing it with lard to make its Chuan Tung cooking oil. Though the illegal factory had been in business for more than a decade, the authorities had failed to detect what it was up to. Chang Guann had also managed to delude inspectors. Recycled gutter oil can contain carcinogens. No case of illness has been reported so far. Chang Guann was fined a trifling $1.67 million for its illegal sales.

The investigation also revealed that Chang Guann had been importing lard from Hong Kong that was intended for industrial purposes but falsely listed by the Hong Kong company as fit for human consumption.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare is now working to set up a system to monitor about 100 oil manufacturers and 500 importers in Taiwan, requiring them to register information about their products. Submitting fraudulent information could lead to a maximum fine of $100,000 and suspension of business for one year.

The scare follows a series of other food scandals last year; in one case, a factory owner was sentenced to 16 years in prison for adding a banned coloring agent, copper chlorophyllin, to olive oil. The Taiwanese authorities need to be doing more than reacting to food-safety problems on an ad hoc basis to ensure that what people eat is safe.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/opinion/taiwans-gutter-oil-scandal.html?_r=0

Structure of the Lead: 

who - the Taiwanese authorities

when - Since Sept. 4

what - have been struggling to control a food scare

why - not given

where - Taiwan

how - caused by 645 tons of adulterated cooking oil produced by the Chang Guann Company

Keywords:

adulterated 攙雜，攙假

glutinous 黏的，黏稠的；黏著性的

Week6 - Iraq ISIS

Indonesia's Jakarta Post rejects blasphemy claim over IS cartoon

The Jakarta Post has defended the publication of a cartoon criticising Islamic State (IS) militants, after its editor was named in a defamation case.

The cartoon shows a flag similar to ones used by IS with the words "there is no God but Allah", and a skull and crossbones.

The phrase is considered sacred by Muslims and the cartoon was seen by some as offensive.

The newspaper called the cartoon a "journalistic piece".

IS, also known as Isis, is a militant Islamist group fighting a brutal campaign in Syria and Iraq.

'Not blasphemous'

Published on 3 July, the cartoon replaces the oval shape on the original flag with a skull and crossbones but leaves the Arabic religious phrase "Laa ilaaha illallaah", meaning "there is no God but Allah".

It also shows the words Allah and Muhammad, which are sacred to Muslims and found on IS flags, inside the skull shape.

The Post, a leading English-language daily, said the cartoon was meant as a critique of the use of religious symbols in acts of violence.

But some Muslim groups said the cartoon was offensive towards Islam. The Post apologised and retracted the cartoon on 8 July, saying it regretted the "error in judgement".

On Thursday, police named the Jakarta Post's editor-in-chief, Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, a suspect for religious defamation.

"We are amazed because the fact is we did not commit a criminal act as accused," the newspaper responded in a statement on Thursday.

"What we produced was a journalistic piece that criticised the Isis movement, which has carried out violence in the name of religion. It means that the Isis caricature was not blasphemous."

Rights group Amnesty International has condemned the move by police. In a statement the group said the incident went against President Joko Widodo's commitment to press freedom in Indonesia.

A police spokesman told the BBC Mr Suryodiningrat could be summoned next week. He could be facing five years in prison for religious blasphemy.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30444002

Structure of the Lead: 

who - The Jakarta Post

when - after its editor was named in a defamation case

what - has defended the publication of a cartoon criticising Islamic State (IS) militants

why - not given

where - Iraq

how - not given

Keywords:

blasphemy 褻瀆

cartoon （以政治、時事為題材的）諷刺畫

summon 召喚；傳喚；請求；要求

defamation 誹謗

Week5 - Ebola

Ebola out of headlines but on the horizon

By Irwin Redlener

November 28, 2014 -- Updated 1956 GMT (0356 HKT)

(CNN) -- Ebola may have faded from the headlines in the United States, but the threat -- to Africa and the rest of the world -- remains.

This month, the Senate Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on Ebola, including testimony by Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He noted that the CDC had lowered its estimate of the number of cases likely to emerge in West Africa. Despite this positive news, Ebola remains largely out of control in Sierra Leone.

The World Health Organization announced this month that Guinea is "relatively stable," but the recent spread of the virus into Mali only confirms the need for a greater sustained effort to combat Ebola at its origin.

That's why many experts are cautioning that declaring the emergency over is premature. And it's why the Obama administration and key members of Congress are requesting $6.1 billion to beef up our ability to eradicate Ebola and prepare for future epidemics.

There are two reasons why this emergency is far from over.

First, as long as Ebola rages in West Africa, health care systems in the United States and elsewhere will need to remain on high alert. There is no way to assure that Ebola -- or other known and unknown biological threats -- will be contained without the ability on a global scale to identify, manage, eradicate or even prevent these diseases from spreading.

Improving our capacity to develop vaccines, respond to crises overseas and develop other countermeasures for dangerous viruses are vital.

Second, the death from Ebola of Thomas Eric Duncan in Dallas was a powerful illustration of how unprepared we are to deal with large-scale biological threats. Few of the almost 5,000 hospitals in the United States are at the level of Bellevue Hospital Center in New York, Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, the University of Nebraska Medical Center or the handful of other facilities that have been designated as ready to handle Ebola-like illnesses.

Why aren't we ready? Part of the problem is that budget cuts over the last decade have slashed the federally funded Hospital Preparedness Program and special disaster funding for public health agencies. Indeed, since 2008, some 50,000 public health positions have been eliminated due to funding cuts.

For many public health agencies, even getting routine work done, never mind responding to crises, is proving a challenge for many communities in the United States.

The emergency funds being sought to respond to Ebola here and in Africa are critical to helping protect the American public.

The recent U.S. experience of Ebola was a wake-up call. But if the country hits the snooze button once the media coverage fades, we'll have missed a critical moment to deal not just with this deadly illness, but with future disasters, too

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/28/opinion/redlener-ebola-not-done/index.html?iref=allsearch

Structure of the Lead: 

who - Ebola

when - not given

what - may have faded from the headlines

why - not given

where - in the United States

how - not given

Keywords:

combat 反對

eradicate 連根拔除，根絕；消滅

countermeasure 對策；反抗手段

eliminate 排除，消除，消滅

snooze button 鬧鐘上的打盹按鈕