Cancer remained the No. 1 killer in Taiwan last year, the Department of Health (DOH) said, with one person dying from the disease every 13 minutes and 30 seconds last year — 25 seconds faster than the previous year.
The DOH yesterday released its figures on the leading causes of death in the country, with cancer topping the list for the 27th consecutive year.
The DOH's Department of Statistics said that the number of deaths surpassed more than 140,000 for the first time last year, but the average life expectancy for men and women rose to 75.5 years for men and 82 years for women. In 2007, it was 75.47 years for males and 81.71 years for females.
Huang Hsu-ming (黃旭明), director of the statistics department, said that the major 10 causes of death last year were the same as in 2007. Malignant tumors were responsible for 27.3 percent of all deaths last year, followed by heart disease (11.1 percent), cerebrovascular disease (7.5 percent), pneumonia (6.1 percent), diabetes (5.6 percent), accidents (5.0 percent), lower chronic respiratory disease (3.8 percent), chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (3.5 percent), suicide (2.9 percent), and nephritis, nephritic syndrome and nephrosis (2.8 percent).
Deaths caused by chronic liver disease and accidents saw the largest declines, with both falling 6.4 percent, the statistics showed.
The rate of death caused by cancer declined 0.1 percent last year to 133.7 per 100,000 people, with 38,913 people dying from the disease.
There was no change in the order of top cancer killers. Lung cancer was responsible for most cancer deaths (20 percent), followed by liver cancer (19.7 percent) and colorectal cancer (11 percent).
Rounding out the top 10 were breast cancer, stomach cancer, oral cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, esophageal cancer and pancreatic cancer.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
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