Otolaryngologists were called on yesterday to join the fight against oral cavity cancer, a cancer of the mouth mostly caused by long-term betel nut chewing.
Hao Sheng-po (侯勝博), chairman of the Taiwan Otolaryngological Society, called on doctors to help prevent oral cavity cancer by voluntarily offering to perform oral cavity cancer screening on high-risk patients, educate patients about good oral habits and assist with speedy transfers to large hospitals when cancerous tissue is spotted.
His remarks were made at the 85th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Taiwan Otolaryngological Society in Taipei yesterday. It was attended by hundreds of otolaryngologists — doctors of the ear, nose, throat, head and neck — as well as Department of Health officials.
“Among the forms of cancer that affect males aged between 25 to 44 years old, oral cavity cancer is the No. 1 leading cause of death,” Hao said.
The cancer mainly affects low-income males with low education levels living in rural areas and holding jobs that require late work hours, such as truck drivers.
According to DOH statistics, about 4,700 people are diagnosed with the cancer each year. The 2 million people in Taiwan who chew betel nut make up the majority of the high-risk group.
People who chew betel nut, drink alcohol and smoke are 123 times more likely to get oral cavity cancer than normal adults (who have none of the three habits), said Hao.
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