The government is considering amending laws to regulate or ban the Color Run or similar events on account of the pollution it may cause to the environment, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Stephen Sheng (沈世宏) said yesterday.
The 5km race, in which runners are showered with colored powder along the run, debuted in Taiwan last month. However, it generated controversy recently as the organizer was found sweeping the colored powder directly into the Keelung River after the race was over.
The Taipei City Government’s Department of Environmental Protection then fined the Taipei organizer NT$70,000 for causing river pollution.
Sheng briefed the lawmakers on the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee on the operations of the EPA, who expressed concern over the pollution generated by the event.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Yu-ming (王育敏) said the government should take forceful action to restrict or ban the event if the substance could pollute the environment and hurt people’s health.
Sheng said a granule of the colored powder was about 16 micrometers in size and therefore unlikely to be breathed into someone’s windpipe or bronchi under normal circumstances.
However, he said that Color Run participants have to breathe heavily when running and could breathe in the powder.
“Some people may also consider it visual pollution when they see bright and shiny colored powder,” Sheng said. “When people wash the colored powder off their bodies and clothes, the runoff will flow into the river and contaminate it.”
Given that the Color Run would have such a negative impact on the environment, Sheng said that the agency would work with local governments to regulate this type of event.
Sheng said that the EPA has a manual to determine if an event is environmentally-friendly, and that it gives an organizer advice on how to lower the event’s impact on the environment.
He said the agency could also include restrictions in the manual for holding similar events.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all