Several civic groups yesterday urged smokers to try their utmost to quit smoking to help cut carbon emissions on Arbor Day.
“According to the WHO’s air pollution and cancer report, thick smog is responsible for causing lung cancer in about 60,000 people worldwide each year, accounting for between 3 and 5 percent of the total number of lung cancer cases around the world. Smoking is the main cause of between 70 and 80 percent of lung cancer cases,” Taiwan International Medical Alliance secretary-general Huang Sung-li (黃嵩立) said.
Huang said that while heavy smog and smoking are both detrimental to the environment and human health, the difference is that people decide whether to smoke.
Antismoking group John Tung Foundation chief executive officer Yao Shi-yuan (姚思遠) said the Environmental Protection Administration sets the daily average allowable standard for particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) at 35 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3) in Taiwan.
“However, few people are aware that the PM2.5 level emitted by a cigarette is 918μg/m, about 26 times the standard level. It suggests that smoking is not only a threat to public health, but also to our air quality,” Yao said, adding that the best gift smokers can give to the planet is quitting smoking.
Consumers’ Foundation vice chairman You Kai-hsiung (游開雄) said Taiwanese smoke more than 44 billion cigarettes each year.
“Given that a cigarette butt takes at least 15 years to decompose, the toxic waste can pollute our environment and clog the nation’s sewage systems,” You said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said that according to the Forestry Bureau, a 20-year-old tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 18kg per year, but the manufacturing process of a single cigarette can emit as much as 900g of carbon dioxide.
“That means the production of the 44 billion cigarettes smoked by Taiwanese each year alone emits nearly 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. No amount of trees can tackle this level of pollutants,” Tien said.
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