BEIJING (AP) — The discovery in Chinese markets of tons of beans treated with a highly toxic pesticide has prompted an indignant response from an official responsible for the safety of the produce, despite a public outcry over recent food safety scandals. One city's decision to publicize the problem was "inconsiderate of friends," according to Zhou Qingchong, deputy director of the agriculture bureau law enforcement team. Authorities in the central city of Wuhan recently announced it had destroyed 3.5 tons of "yard-long" beans from Sanya that had been treated with isocarbophos, a banned pesticide. Zhou told China National Radio for a report this week that his city and the Ministry of Agriculture had lost face because of the complaint from Wuhan.
China finds it more considerate (and less expensive) to poison its own people. |