Nine out of 10 people with oral cancer in Taiwan chew betel nut, the Bureau of Health Promotion said on Tuesday, adding that it would focus awareness efforts on drivers, an occupation in which a high percentage of workers have oral cancer.
Using statistics provided by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the bureau said construction workers, drivers and fishermen topped the list of occupations at risk of contracting oral cancer and that the main cause was chewing betel nut.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer lists betel nut as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in humans, the bureau said.
The Department of Health’s statistics of cancer rates in 2008 and the death rate in 2010 showed that oral cancer ranked fourth among the 10 leading causes of cancer mortality among men in Taiwan, and that about 6,000 people were diagnosed with oral cancer each year.
According to a health survey in 2009, 23.9 percent of men between the ages of 18 and 39 who chew betel nut had only graduated from senior-high school, while 46.1 percent only had junior-high school education, the bureau said, adding that the data indicated that the health problems related to chewing betel nut mainly affected laborers in Taiwan.
The bureau also said many drivers chew betel nut to refresh their minds when driving long distances.
Bureau Director-General Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞) said her bureau would initiate promotional projects beginning with drivers as well as working with shipping companies to create a betel nut-free working environment.
Chiou said cooperation with two major shipping companies in the country have already showed positive results — the percentage of drivers at one company who chewed betel nut had dropped from 24.3 percent in 2007 to 7.97 percent last year.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS