As much as 88 percent of condoms sold in adult erotic stores have not passed inspections by the health authorities, according to the results of a survey released yesterday by the Consumers' Foundation ahead of Valentine's Day.
The foundation examined 25 condom brands purchased from 11 stores in Taipei City and Taipei County on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4.
While all brands of condoms sold on the market are required to be registered with the Department of Health as a medical product and to display a license code on their packaging, the survey found that 18 of the surveyed products did not carry a license code and four others carried codes that did not belong to their brands.
PHOTO: SUNG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Only two types of condoms were labeled with all the information required by the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law (
The labeling of six condom packages was inconsistent in terms of the manufacturing and expiration dates given on their inner and outer packaging, while four others were past their expiration dates, the foundation found.
Among the 18 condoms with fragrances that were sampled, 12, or 67 percent, either did not indicate their ingredients at all or did not clearly label their ingredients, the survey said.
The chairman of the Consumers' Foundation, Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏), urged the Department of Health to step up its inspection of condoms and to fine those manufacturers who fail to comply with the regulations.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
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