It may soon be illegal to smoke or chew betel nut while walking the streets of Taichung if a proposed regulation is passed.
Democratic Progressive Party Taichung City Councilors Hsiao Chieh (蕭杰) and Chang Yao-chung (張耀中) proposed banning smoking on the city's streets to Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) during a city council meeting on Wednesday.
Hu expressed his support for the proposal immediately and promised to submit a city ordinance to the council for review that would not only ban smoking but also the chewing of betel nut on the streets.
Hsiao said that smoking should only be allowed in designated smoking areas.
"By setting up smoking areas, it'd be easier to keep the streets clean and to cut air pollution," Hsiao said.
"Chewing betel nut should also be banned as both cigarette butts and betel nut dregs make our streets dirty," Hu said.
Hu promised to submit a draft of the regulation during the next session of the council so that it could be passed by the end of this year.
Praising the suggested ban, Lin Ching-lee (
Outdoor smoking bans are already in place in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong, she said.
However, lawyers were concerned that such an ordinance may be a human rights violation and illegal as only "affairs unique to a particular locality can be considered local autonomous items."
Additional reporting by Hsu Hsia-lian,
chen Chang-yi and Yang Cheng-chun
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