The number of smokers in Taiwan has been falling for years, but flavored and electronic cigarettes are tempting young people to try smoking and harming their health, while also exposing them to secondhand smoke, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said on Friday.
Smoking among junior-high school students dropped from 7.8 percent to 2.8 percent from 2008 to last year and from 14.8 percent to 8 percent among senior-high school students, the agency said in a statement.
That reflects a trend across Taiwan of fewer people smoking, it said, adding that the smoking rate among adults decreased from 21.9 percent to 13 percent.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
However, four out of 10 teenagers smoke flavored cigarettes, with more girls using the products than boys, and it is estimated that more than 38,000 minors smoke e-cigarettes, the HPA said, citing last year’s Taiwan Global Youth Tobacco Survey.
Such alternative tobacco products are a “sugar-coated poison,” the agency said, adding that their flavors and attractive designs might create the false impression that they are relatively harmless or less addictive than traditional cigarettes, but both products contain nicotine and can harm people’s health.
Research shows that e-cigarettes not only can cause cancer, asthma and strokes, but might also explode, HPA Director-General Wang Ying-wei (王英偉) said.
The annual survey found that about 30 percent of teenagers are exposed to secondhand smoke at home, with half of them exposed to cigarette smoke on a daily basis, the HPA said.
Secondhand smoke is harmful to children’s health, Wang said, urging adults and parents to give up smoking to ensure a safe and healthy family environment.
“One person smoking means the whole family is smoking,” he said.
Smoking indoors is also a main cause of air pollution at home, with the concentration of PM2.5 pollutants rising to 10 times the level if there is a smoker at home, he added.
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