The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the Act Governing Breastfeeding in Public Places (公共場所母乳哺育條例), which makes it illegal for anyone to prevent women from breastfeeding in public.
The act stipulates that anyone who prohibits a woman from breastfeeding in public or asks that she leave a specific area to do so will face a fine of between NT$6,000 and NT$30,000.
The act also requires that department stores, megastores, government agencies, train stations, airports and public transit areas provide a breastfeeding room. Failure to abide by this requirement could result in a maximum fine of NT$30,000.
Those establishments will have one year to make breastfeeding rooms available from the time the act is promulgated.
Legislators also passed an additional resolution calling on the Department of Health to actively promote breastfeeding.
The resolution nevertheless said the department should abide by the WHO spirit of respecting a mother’s decision about whether to breastfeed.
“Breastfeeding is how a mother shows her love for her children as well as a woman’s right,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) told the legislature after the bill was passed.
“This country should create a breastfeeding-friendly environment so that women can feel comfortable nursing their babies,” she said.
Prior to passage of the bill, Taipei City on April 1 became the first city in Taiwan to implement the Public Breastfeeding Regulation (公共場所母乳哺育自治條例) guaranteeing a mother’s right to breastfeed in public.
Under the regulations adopted by Taipei, anyone who tries to prevent a mother from breastfeeding in public is subject to a fine of between NT$5,000 and NT$30,000.
Advocates of breastfeeding had been fighting for the right to breastfeed in public since a number of women in October 2005 were asked by Taipei Story House to leave because they were nursing their babies.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS