The Department of Health (DOH)renewed its call yesterday for people who have lived in the UK since the outbreak of "mad cow"disease in 1980 to refrain from giving blood.
The department reissued its directive following a report in the Chinese-language China Times yesterday which said Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) and People First Party Legislator Daniel Hwang (黃義交) have given blood despite a ban the DOH enacted in March last year.
The ban states that anybody who lived in the UK for more than three months since 1980 or had received a blood transfusion in the UK should not give blood. Those who have lived in Europe for a five years or more after 1980 are also barred.
Hu gave blood at a publicity event in February while Huang did so at a Rotary Club event "last summer," the China Times said.
Both Hwang and Hu told the China Times that they were unaware of the rules at the time they gave blood and that they would refrain from doing so in the future.
Hu criticized the DOH for not publicizing the ban sufficiently.
Although he did not comment on Hu and Huang's donations, Lin Min-chang (林敏昌) of the Taiwan Blood Services Foundation, said yesterday that blood donors are given a lengthy questionnaire to ensure that they are suitable candidates, followed by an interview with a nurse to make sure they have understood the questions.
"We can only go by what the donor tells us, making the rules impossible to enforce 100 percent," Lin said. "We can only call upon those who give blood to keep in mind that they are doing so to help others, not to harm others."
Unlike those who know themselves to be at HIV positive, there is no penalty involved for those people who lived in the UK or Europe during the "mad cow" crisis but give blood anyway.
The director of the DOH's Bureau of Medical Affairs, Hsueh Jui-yuan (
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
NEW LOW: The council in 2024 based predictions on a pessimistic estimate for the nation’s total fertility rate of 0.84, but last year that rate was 0.69, 17 percent lower An expected National Development Council (NDC) report expects the nation’s population to drop below 12 million by 2065, with the old-age dependency ratio to top 100 percent sooner than 2070, sources said yesterday. The council is slated to release its latest population projections in August, using an ultra-low fertility model, the sources said. The previous report projected that Taiwan’s population would fall to 14.37 million by 2070, but based on a new estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — the population is expected to reach 12 million by
COUNTERING HOSTILITY: The draft bill would require the US to increase diplomatic pressure on China and would impose sanctions on those who sabotage undersea cable networks US lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bipartisan bill to bolster the resilience of Taiwan’s submarine cables to counter China’s hostile activities. The proposal, titled the critical undersea infrastructure resilience initiative act, was cosponsored by Republican representatives Mike Lawler and Greg Stanton, and Democratic Representative Dave Min. US Senators John Curtis and Jacky Rosen also introduced a companion bill in the US Senate, which has passed markup at the chamber’s Committee on Foreign Relations. The House’s version of the bill would prioritize the deployment of sensors to detect disruptions or potential sabotage in real-time and enhance early warning capabilities through global intelligence sharing frameworks,
RSS