Farm minister Ota calls it quits over growing tainted-rice issue

TOKYO, Sept. 19 Kyodo - Farm minister Seiichi Ota resigned Friday to take responsibility for the ministry's handling of a growing tainted rice problem that has fueled consumer concern about food safety.

Ota, 62, is leaving the post in Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's reshuffled
Cabinet, inaugurated Aug. 2, just days ahead of a scheduled Cabinet resignation
en mass on Wednesday.
''Today, after a Cabinet meeting, I met with Prime Minister Fukuda and
communicated my resolve to resign in view of the extent of the problem in
society concerning trouble rice,'' Ota said at a regular news conference in the
morning, referring to the tainted rice.
The Cabinet approved Ota's resignation and Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka
Machimura has been appointed to take over Ota's portfolio, the government
announced.
The tainted rice scandal has developed into unusual circumstances as it also
claimed the job of vice farm minister Toshiro Shirasu, the top bureaucrat who
initially denied the ministry's responsibility and blamed a rice dealer for
marketing industrial-use rice as edible rice. The government on Friday replaced
him with Michio Ide, director general at the Forestry Agency.
Opposition parties criticized Ota's resignation. Yukio Hatoyama, secretary
general of the Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters, the resignation was
result of the Liberal Democratic Party's ''party interests, thinking it cannot
fight the lower house election if nothing is done.''
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries came under fire for
mishandling the rice scandal after it first announced Sept. 5 that non-edible
rice tainted with poisonous mold and pesticide was sold by a rice dealer to
manufacturers of ''shochu'' distilled liquor.
It was later revealed that the tainted rice, imported from China and elsewhere
to make glue and other industrial products, was used far more widely and
consumed by people in hospitals, nurseries and schools. No health damage has
been reported so far.
The ministry was blamed for not being able to detect the problem, despite
dozens of checks that it conducted on the dealer.
Firms which the ministry has announced as buying tainted rice also expressed
anger toward Ota's resignation.
An executive at a Japanese-style confectionary wholesaler in Hyogo Prefecture
said that the store became busy responding to retailers sending back products
after the name of the store was released.
''It remains unchanged that we are in a troubled situation even if (Ota)
resigns. Though he left many words about 'food,' I wonder if he was qualified
to talk about it,'' the executive said.
Ota was criticized for making inept remarks that ruffled the nerves of
consumers concerning the rice issue. On a TV program, he said he does not
intend to ''wriggle and raise a rumpus'' over the issue. On shochu liquor, he
said, ''I can say confidently that it will have no impact on humans because
(toxic substances) are in low concentration.''
Ota has apparently come to the conclusion that he should clarify his
responsibility, given a general election is imminent and because of Prime
Minister Fukuda's policy, advocating the importance of consumer protection.
After he was appointed farm minister in August, Ota was also criticized for
logging a large sum of ''office expenses'' in his political fund report when
the registered office was the home of an aide.
The post of agricultural minister has seen a rather high incidence of
scandals-triggered departures in the past years. Toshikatsu Matsuoka killed
himself in May last year amid allegations about questionable office expenses.
His successor, Norihiko Akagi, was effectively dismissed in August after
allegations emerged about dubious office expense billing. Takehiko Endo took
over the post but quit one week later after the revelation of the misuse of
government subsidies involving a farmers' mutual aid association he headed.
==Kyodo