NTDTV Tighter Controls Promised As German Dioxin Scandal Continues

People's health takes the highest priority and safety comes before speed, Germany's Consumer Affairs Minister Ilse Aigner told parliament in Berlin on Wednesday

Germany is in the grips of a food dioxon scandal, with thousands of farms shut down, and thousands of hens culled.

Dioxins are a group of chemicals known to increase the likelihood of cancer.

The dioxin scare widened two weeks ago after reports that one company had been processing contaminated animal feed since March - nine months longer than previously thought.

Thousands of farms were shut down and thousands of hens culled, hoping to prevent food supplies being contaminated by the 3,000 tons of tainted animal feed mistakenly sent to poultry and hog farms.

[Ilse Aigner, German Consumer Affairs Minister]:

"Inspections at the site must work and consumers must be able to rely on them. That's why an improvement of the inspections are a basic element of this action plan. Although there is no one hundred percent safety, the safety net must be so tight that the chances of getting caught are already a deterrent."

Outside Chancellor Angela Merkel's office, a small demonstration of environmentalists condemned Aigner's action plan as too little, too late.

[Reinhild Benning, BUND Environmental Association]:

"The measures are not wrong but they firstly are coming too late and secondly, they won't be able to protect us from the next scandal. They just don't go far enough. The third point is that the farmers who have already been affected will gain nothing from them (the measures) because the factory which started the dioxin scandal is now insolvent and the product liability which Mrs. Aigner has suggested will have no effect."

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