China's legislature, the Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress (NPC), on Saturday voted for a law on farm
produce quality safety, nailing down a series of measures to ensure
farm produce safety.
The law will go into effect on Nov. 1.
An official with the Legislative Affairs Commission under the
NPC Standing Committee said on Saturday that the environment at the
production areas of farm products always influences the quality of
farm products.
In recent years, agricultural product safety incidents take
place due to the air, soil or water pollution at the product
growing areas.
Therefore, the law forbids discharging sewage, waste gas and
solid waste or other poisonous substances to the agricultural
product production areas.
The law also prohibits producing and collecting farm products at
the places where poisonous and harmful substances exceed statutory
standards.
The law regulates the use of fertilizer, pesticides, veterinary
medicine, feed and feed additives, and requires establishing
production records for agricultural products.
(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2006)