The Bureau of Health Promotion said yesterday it would ask the National Communications Commission (NCC) to look into the option of penalizing stations that broadcast cartoons with regular scenes of characters smoking.
Bureau Director-General Chiu Shu-ti (邱淑媞) said the bureau found in a survey that cartoons topped other television programs in terms of the frequency of showing smoking.
The survey also found that sports programs and movies about police or teachers often contained such scenes.
Chiu offered examples including the Japanese TV cartoons One Piece, Hiraku’s Go and Naruto (火影忍者), as well as TV series Police et Vous (波麗士大人) and the professional wrestling program Smack Down.
The survey found that, on average, smoking scenes appeared at least once every two episodes. Several cartoons had images of smokers in every episode.
“Parents may be caught off guard because they might not expect images of smokers to appear in cartoons,” Chiu said. “Because cartoons and television series are aired daily at set schedules, children and teenagers may gradually see the images of smokers as acceptable and eventually start smoking. The government needs to take this matter seriously and address it in a more aggressive manner.”
The bureau also said in a statement that while Article 22 of the Tobacco Hazard Prevention Act (菸害防制法) states that images of smoking “shall not be particularly emphasized in television programs, drama or theatrical performances, audio-visual singing and professional sports events,” the act does not specify any penalty.
The bureau said the three major media laws — the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), the Broadcasting and Television Act (廣播電視法) and the Cable Television Act (有線電視法) — include penalties for programs that impair the physical or mental health of children.
The bureau will ask the NCC to look into programs that frequently show smoking and determine a penalty for them.
Jason Ho (何吉森), director of the NCC’s communication content department, said the commission would have to turn the cases over to an independent panel to review their content and determine if they impair the physical or mental health of children.
He said the NCC might consider inviting representatives from the bureau to make their case, however, it had not received formal notice yet from the bureau.
“This matter involves judging different values,” Ho said.
“The smoking scenes may be placed in the plots as part of the producers’ creativity. The Bureau of Health Promotion may have its own thoughts on the matter, but we have to consider various factors. Wouldn’t it be strange to completely ban images of smoking?” he said.
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,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
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
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400