Campaign to help the poor launched in Central Highlands

A month-long campaign to help the poor was launched in the Central Highland province of Gia Lai on October 16.
Hundreds of organizations and individuals contributed over VND1.5 billion to the campaign on its first day.

Since it was first launched ten years ago, nearly VND40 billion has been mobilized to build 2,543 new houses and repair 946 houses for poor people.

The charitable fund has also purchased new varieties of crops and livestock for local farmers and provided them with preferential loans to help boost agricultural production.

More than VND5 billion was also raised over the past year to support poor people living in remote areas.

Officials hold online discussion on food safety

The concerns of consumers over contaminated food were understandable, but the amount of contaminated food has not increased and not all contaminated food was harmful, said Nguyen Nhu Tiep, Director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department, in an online discussion on food safety on the Government web portal yesterday.

In 2009, 6.4 per cent of fruit contained an excessive amount of pesticides, while in 2011 that number declined to 4.43 per cent, according to ministry data. As for meat, 29.4 per cent was contaminated in 2009, and this number remained virtually unchanged in 2011. Aquaculture numbers remained the lowest, hovering around 1 per cent.

But poultry and red meat contaminated with bacteria - which accounted for 27-30 per cent of the samples tested - could be safe when cooked properly, he said.

In reply to questions on South Korean-imported chicken sold at BigC Supermarket, which is usually used for animal feed processing, Nguyen Thai Dung, deputy director of the supermarket, affirmed that the supermarket had sent samples for testing.

Currently, the supermarket has stopped selling these products.

"The supermarket maintains strict supervision over production lines and distribution. Products are selected randomly for chemical tests to make sure they meet hygiene and safety requirements," Dung said, adding that this chicken had all the required legal documents such as quality and import certificates.

As for imported fruits with insufficient labelling, Nguyen Thanh Phong, head of the Ministry of Health's Food Hygiene and Safety Department, said only tests for banned chemicals and excessive amounts of chemicals could tell whether fruits were toxic.

Tiep, director of the Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department, said the ministry has recently issued a circular to strengthen controls on imported food. Export countries must list all the chemicals they used during the cultivation process, and products would be inspected both at border gates and plant quarantine stations.

Currently, about 11 countries meet the new import requirements, including China and Laos. About 14 of 58 fruit samples collected from markets were found to contain excessive amounts of pesticides, including oranges, grapes, potatoes and plums. The department would conduct more thorough inspections of these fruits in the future, he said.

Phong also said recent rumours about leeches in milk and fake rice had resulted in big losses for farmers and producers, even though these products had not yet been inspected.

"All tests showed that those samples were fine," he said.

The Government has also issued policies to support entrepreneurs, helping them build better facilities and training technical staff on how to produce clean food. The Law on Food Hygiene and Safety would better solve this problem.

Figures from the Food Hygiene and Safety Department show that there were 10 cases of food poisoning in the first four months of this year, killing four and leaving 720 hospitalised.

Most of the cases involved food contaminated with bacteria.

Meeting reviews safety measures in Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay rescue agencies met with the People's Committee of Quang Ninh Province on Monday review safety and injury prevention measures, following a spate of waterway accidents.

The two agencies currently in charge of bay rescues - the Ha Long Bay Management Board Rescue Centre and the local Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Centre of Diving and Rescue for Underwater Sports - have both been labelled ineffective due to lack of staff and equipment.

The Quang Ninh Province's Port Department said the provincial People's Committee needs to provide more resources for the agencies in charge and must step up co-operation between local authorities and concerned provinces to ensure safety on the bay.

The Waterway Traffic Police of Quang Ninh Province suggested increased inspections of waterway vehicles in ports and increased management over fishing villages, beaches and areas where boats stay, to ensure they are meeting required safety standards.

Other agencies also asked the People's Committee to approve the plan to step up rescue work and fire prevention for Ha Long Bay to 2015, with a vision until 2020.

Vu Thi Thu Thuy, deputy chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Ninh Province said the committee had asked relevant local agencies to develop on-site rescue plans as an urgent solution.

She added that the committee was developing long-term plans to organise training courses to raise the awareness and capacity of those in the tourism sector, especially boat operators.

Meanwhile, also on Monday, the Hai Phong Border Guard steering committee announced that the two sailors and dead body, all of Chinese nationality, involved in a shipwreck on the area of Bach Long Vy Island District had been safely returned to China.

Earlier last week, the Bach Long Vy Border Guard Station 58 had accepted the sailors and dead body, which were rescued by Vietnamese fishermen.

Binh Dinh unveils resettlement plans

The central coastal province of Binh Dinh will build an additional 44 resettlement areas by 2020 to relocate 9,700 households from areas which are frequently hit by natural disasters.

The total expense of the project is estimated at VND680 billion (US$32.4 million), with VND490 billion ($23.3) coming from the national budget.

The province has so far built 17 resettlement areas, 14 of which have fully-completed infrastructures, with 640 households already moved in.

Statistics from the provincial Flood and Storm Steering Committee Office show that 20,400 households containing 86,000 residents are in areas at risk from natural disasters.

Bear traffickers caught in Lao Cai

Police in the northern city of Lao Cai arrested two men for trafficking the body parts of a sun bear in the city's Cam Duong Commune yesterday.

One of the traffickers, Vang Xuan Hang, 34, from Sa Pa District, admitted to the police that they had paid VND20 million (US$960) for the bear to a stranger in Sa Pa Town. They hoped to sell it in Ha Noi.

While carrying the animal by motorbike, they refused to stop when the police ordered them to pull over.

The Malayan sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) is a rare and protected species.

Cough medicine classed as health risk

The Drug Administration of Viet Nam has stopped granting business licences to sellers of a cough medicine made from thach xuong bo (rhizoma rcori graminei herbal) due to its harmful effects on heart and liver.

The medicine is said to contain beta-asaton which can cause cancer and create sudden changes in liver and heart function.

In 1986, the US Food and Drug Administration banned the use of the herb to make medicine. In Asia, the herb is one of the best-known medicines and is often used to treat cardiovascular diseases.

VNN/VOV/VNS