SEAT Project organises pangasius briefing for Stevenson

摘要

A SCOTTISH Conservative MEP, Struan Stevenson, was invited to a briefing on pangasius farming at the Institute of Aquaculture in mid-April. The controversial politician raised hackles in November last year when he claimed 'shoppers are unwittingly buying a catfish farmed by "slave labour" in the filthy Mekong River in Vietnam,' during a keynote speech at a conference on aquaculture in the European Parliament. 'The Mekong River is one of the most heavily polluted rivers on Earth,' Stevenson had continued in his speech. 'Factories along its banks daily pump thousands of tonnes of contaminants into its slow-flowing waters. As a result, the water in which pangasius is being farmed is teeming with bacteria and poisoned with industrial effluents including arsenic, mercury and DDT.'