Despite the fact that most public areas in Taiwan have been smoke-free environments since the launch of the Tobacco Hazard Control Act (菸害防治法) seven years ago, survey released yesterday showed that the majority of children are exposed to second-hand smoke in their homes, a private arena where the law holds little sway.
The survey, conducted by Sheu Shiann-cherng (許憲呈), a health academic from Chang Jung Christian University revealed that the home has become the primary place where children are exposed to second-hand smoke. About 62 percent of the 1,564 surveyed children said that at least one of their family members is habitual smoker -- usually the father.
"Children do not choose this exposure," said Tomming Lai (賴東明), John Tung Foundation president, "yet because private residences are beyond the bounds of the Tobacco Hazard Control Act, we can only appeal to parents to quit smoking to reduce the exposure."
Children are particularly vulnerable to second-hand smoke, health experts said. Children inhaling smoke regularly are at higher risk of respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis.
Sheu also cited US medical research to stress that children growing up in a home where a family member smokes is more likely to develop asthma around the age of six and take up smoking themselves before the age of 15.
According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco use is the second highest cause of death in the world. It is currently responsible for the deaths of one in 10 adults worldwide -- about 5 million deaths each year. If current smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2025.
Half of the total smoking population in the world today -- about 650 million people -- will eventually die of smoking-related illnesses, WHO statistics indicated.
Taiwan's smoking population exceeds 4.89 million, and the third highest place where smoking is prevalent is the home.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching