The Department of Health (DOH) is set to launch an anti-betel nut chewing campaign on campuses across the nation to combat the growing numbers of young people now chewing betel nut.
A matter triggering much concern are statistics from the department, which show that incidences of mouth cancer have increased by 30 percent in the last 5 years, with males between 25-44 being the most affected.
Trend
More alarmingly, in recent years in Taiwan, there is a trend towards betel nut chewers becoming both younger and stretching across a wider assortment of professions.
When asked about some reasons for the trend, section head of the Bureau of Health Promotion (BHP) Wu Chien-yuan (
"Also, in many areas, especially in the south, young children are very often in close proximity to the betel-nut chewing culture," he added.
To discourage the betel-nut chewing culture in Taiwan, the BHP is holding a nationwide, "Quit betel nut chewing, you know you're right!" marathon, with registration starting yesterday and lasting until Nov. 20.
The BHP will in the meantime start betel-nut chewing prevention campaigns in schools, the military, in the community and in hospitals.
According to the BHP, the relationship between mouth cancer and betel-nut chewing has long been proven and in Taiwan 90 percent of those who develop mouth cancer also have a history of chewing betel nut.
"The International Agency for Research on Cancer has shown that even betel nut pieces, which don't have all the additives, are carcinogenic," Wu said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods