The Cabinet’s Department of Consumer Protection said on Tuesday that 27 of the 28 counterfeit and controlled sexual enhancement drugs which it knows to be on sale in Taiwan are available at adult shops.
The agency and the Food and Drug Administration under the Department of Health (DOH) seized a total of 53 types of suspected illegal sex-enhancing drugs during a series of raids on 106 sex shops, 106 market vendors and 91 pharmacies nationwide between late April and the middle of May.
Among the drugs seized, 25 were found to contain neither illegal substances nor active ingredients, said Wang Te-ming, a consumer ombudsman.
Most of the 28 illegal, unlicensed drugs on sale were related to sexual enhancement, including sprays, two types of pills and powders, as well as a few creams and oils, said Chang Chia-lin (張嘉麟), an official at the department.
Currently, the only legal sex-enhancing drugs available in Taiwan are Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, all of which require a doctor’s prescription, the government agency said.
The 28 illegal products seized mainly contained anesthetics such as Lidocaine, Benzocaine and Dibucaine, health department official Hung Ming-kun (黃明坤) said.
Individuals who are knowingly involved in the supply, prescription, delivery, storage or display of counterfeit and controlled drugs risk imprisonment of up to seven years, plus a fine of up to NT$5 million (US$167,000), the officials said.
In the event of death from the consumption of such drugs, both the makers and the dealers could face prison sentences of between seven years and life, and in the case of serious damage to health, offenders could receive sentences between three and 12 years, the officials said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai