Sanya angry city spilled the beans on cowpeas

• Source: Globaltimes
• [02:28 March 01 2010]
• Comments

By An Baijie

The agricultural bureau in Sanya, Hainan Province criticized its Wuhan counterparts for publicly disclosing that the island province sold cowpeas that were contaminated with a highly toxic pesticide.

Zhou Qingchong, Sanya agricultural bureau's enforcement team deputy head, said the Wuhan agricultural bureau's actions were unfriendly and brought shame to the Sanya government and the Ministry of Agriculture, China National Radio (CNR) reported.

Samples of cowpeas produced in two townships in Sanya had excessive levels of isocarbophos. Other cities also reported the same problem.

Hainan cowpeas also tested positive last week for residual pesticide in Guangzhou, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Zhou said Wuhan authorities should have informed the Hainan government instead of going public, CNR reported.

The report quoted unidentified officials at the Sanya agricultural bureau as saying that they "cannot understand" why the Wuhan authorities released the information to the public.

A quality inspector in Yacheng township in Sanya said that it was a "written rule" that embarrassing scandals involving poisoned crops should not be publicized. Such information should only be circulated internally among governments, the inspector said.

The inspector said that vegetables transported from other provinces to Hainan were also found with excessive pesticide residues, but nothing was released to the public, CNR reported.

The inspector said releasing such news to consumers does not benefit the citizens. There was no explanation why the Sanya authorities felt that releasing the information was bad for consumers.