Greetings,
"The Council on East Asian Community (CEAC) E-Letter" is delivered electronically once every month, free of charge, to readers in the world interested in Japanese thinking on an East Asian Community and other related international affairs by the Council on East Asian Community (CEAC), all-Japan intellectual platform for the study of an East Asian Community.
It will provide the global audience with our news on "CEAC Commentary of the Month" and "CEAC Updates."
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ITO Kenichi
President, CEAC
"CEAC Commentary of the Month"
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"CEAC Commentary of the Month" presents a monthly publication of views of members of CEAC on an East Asian Community and other related international affairs. The views expressed herein are the author's own and should not be attributed to CEAC.
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Establishment of a "Food Safety" System in East Asia
By YASUE Noriko
Professor, Ritsumeikan University
It is possible to enjoy a variety of food products from all over the world in Japan. Especially in recent years, the popularity of Asian food products is increasing. On the other hand, there is the increasing unrest about the safety of those imported food products. In that respect, there is a lot to learn from the food safety system called "From the Farm to the Fork" established by the European Union (EU) which already implemented regional market liberalization, including that of agricultural products.
Although the EU implemented common agricultural policies, and enjoyed the regional market liberalization from the 1960s, it was only in the late 1990s that an awareness regarding the safety of agricultural products started to be highly recognized. In 1996, cases of human infection of BSE were detected in the EU. Moreover in 1999, it was due to an outbreak of dioxin contaminated poultry livestock in Belgium that the safety assurance of livestock and food products became an urgent issue. In 2002, the EU adopted food safety regulations, which indicated duties and obligations of the member nations and companies, and decided to establish the "European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)."
EFSA is an organization whose role is to assess and communicate the risks associated with food safety. More specifically, EFSA provides the highest level of scientific advices to policy makers as well as provides such information to the public. In the case of the EU, where market linearization of farm produce and food products has already been realized, it is still a hard decision to prohibit the distribution of those products even when doubts arise regarding their safety. For that reason, the establishment of a scientific advisory council, independent of national interests, became indispensable. If there are suspicions concerning the safety of a certain produce, it is important that consumers are able to obtain objective information without being dominated by the media and decide whether or not to import this certain product independent from the administration's decision. Likewise, this broad concept, which takes into account the influence that these food safety regulations by the EFSA have over the next generations, is also new.
In dealing with the BSE problem, Japan itself, learned a great deal from the EU's food safety regulations, attaching a greater importance to the traceability of food ingredients. EFSA plays a important role by providing analytical results not only in Europe but all over the world. Japan extended its support to East Asian countries during the outbreak of the Avian Influenza; however, taking into account the future promotion of the regional liberalization of farm produce and food products, I would like to see Japan take the initiative towards the establishment of a more integrated, comprehensive food safety system following the EFSA model.
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For more views and opinions in the backnumber of "CEAC Commentary," the list of which for the past six months is as follows, please refer to:
http://www.ceac.jp/e/commentary/backnumber.html
No.43 Will the U.S-Japan Alliance Become Dispensable?
by SUZUKI Keisuke, Member of the House of Representative
(Lieberal Democratic Party)
(19 January, 2008)
No.42 The Singapore Summits and its Implications for an East Asian Community
by ISHIGAKI Yasuji, Professor of Tokai University Law School
(19 January, 2008)
No.41 Aiming for Multi-Layered System of an East Asian Community and an East Asian Economic Cooperation Organization
by NAKASONE Yasuhiro, Chairman of CEAC and former Prime Minister of Japan
(4 December, 2007)
No.40 What's missing in Hillary's Strategy for Asia
by KAWATO Akio, General Manager of Japan-World Trends
(13 November, 2007)
No.39 Establishing and Implementing Millennium Development Goals for East Asia
by TAKITA Kenji, Professor of Chuo University
(2 October, 2007)
"CEAC Updates"
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"CEAC Updates" introduces to you the latest events, announcements and/or publications of CEAC.
Event
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The 24th Policy Plenary Meeting Discussing the ASEAN's Stance towards an East Asian Community Held
The 24th Policy Plenary Meeting of the Council on East Asian Community (CEAC) was held on March 31 at the conference room of Japan Forum on International Relations to discuss the ASEAN's Stance towards an East Asian Community. Prof. OGASAWARA Takayuki, Member of CEAC and Professor of Yamanashi Gakuin University, made a keynote speech followed by comments by Mr. AIKAWA Kazutoshi, Director for Regional Policy Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, and lively discussions among participants.
For more, please refer to:
http://www.ceac.jp/e/policy-summary/024.html
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The Council on East Asian Community
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