As much as 88 percent of condoms sold in adult erotic stores have not passed inspections by the health authorities, according to the results of a survey released yesterday by the Consumers' Foundation ahead of Valentine's Day.
The foundation examined 25 condom brands purchased from 11 stores in Taipei City and Taipei County on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4.
While all brands of condoms sold on the market are required to be registered with the Department of Health as a medical product and to display a license code on their packaging, the survey found that 18 of the surveyed products did not carry a license code and four others carried codes that did not belong to their brands.
PHOTO: SUNG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Only two types of condoms were labeled with all the information required by the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law (
The labeling of six condom packages was inconsistent in terms of the manufacturing and expiration dates given on their inner and outer packaging, while four others were past their expiration dates, the foundation found.
Among the 18 condoms with fragrances that were sampled, 12, or 67 percent, either did not indicate their ingredients at all or did not clearly label their ingredients, the survey said.
The chairman of the Consumers' Foundation, Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏), urged the Department of Health to step up its inspection of condoms and to fine those manufacturers who fail to comply with the regulations.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos