An air pollution alert system using text messages is being tested and would start running by the end of this month, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday, adding that an alert would only be sent if the air quality index (AQI) exceeds 200.
The agency early last month announced that it would start working with the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction to text air pollution alerts when a region’s AQI reading exceeds 200, sparking a debate over whether the level is strict enough.
Environmental group Air Clean Taiwan yesterday said that the EPA is ignoring the fatal impact of air pollution on human health by setting such a high level for the alert.
It should send the alert when the AQI exceeds 150, or when the concentration of PM2.5 — particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller — exceeds 54.4 micrograms per cubic meter, like South Korea does, the group said, citing advice from Weatherrisk Explore Inc general manager Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) last month.
EPA Deputy Minister Tsai Hung-teh (蔡鴻德) said that people might be bothered by frequent messages if the agency sets the level at 150, and so an alert would only be sent if the air quality reaches serious levels.
The agency is still testing the functions of the center’s messaging system, but it has been issuing regular forecasts of air quality through news releases and news tickers on TV, Tsai added.
Air pollution has been viewed as one of the reasons the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered major losses in the Nov. 24 elections, especially in the Taichung mayoral race.
Outgoing EPA Minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said that the DPP administration has tried its best to combat air pollution since it took office on May 20, 2016, even though it could not immediately satisfy people’s expectations for better air quality.
Lee’s resignation was approved by Premier William Lai (賴清德) on Saturday.
Lee said he has met his own goal of reducing the days when air quality monitoring stations hit a red light (when AQI readings reach 151) by 20 percent in two years.
The EPA is to hold a handover ceremony today, with Tsai to serve as EPA acting chief until the Executive Yuan announces a new minister.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching