As many as 90 percent of children surveyed by the Formosa Cancer Foundation identified themselves as victims of second-hand tobacco smoke, with the majority exposed to the hazard at home.
The results of the survey were released yesterday to coincide with "World No Tobacco Day," whose theme this year is tobacco-free youth.
The survey showed that while more than 90 percent of respondents wish to live in a smoke-free environment, 70 percent have family members who smoke at home and another 60 percent have been forced to breathe second-hand smoke exhaled by a guest.
Half of respondents did not know how to avoid second-hand smoke, mainly because they feared they could get scolded by their parents or other family members.
The online survey was conducted between Jan. 15 and Jan. 28 with 1,825 children.
To help children reduce their exposure to second-hand smoke, the foundation has designed a set of "no smoking" stickers to be placed in living rooms, cars, schools and bathrooms.
In related news, the John Tung Foundation, the nation's biggest anti-smoking non-profit organization, has called upon bureaus of health nationwide to fine convenience stores for not excluding cigarettes from giveaway promotions.
After collecting a certain number of purchase coupons at convenience stores -- including cigarettes -- customers can redeem them for collectible giveaway figurines. The foundation argues that such giveaways could encourage smoking, especially among younger people, who are most likely to be attracted to the figurines.
"Although the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act [菸害防制法] bans promotions and giveaways involving tobacco products, there is a clause that exempts promotional items valued at below a quarter of the price of the tobacco product," Bureau of Health Promotion deputy director-general Chao Kun-yu (趙坤郁) said.
However, the legislature has removed the clause in the revised version of the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act, which will come into force on Jan. 11 next year.
"Until then, we can only appeal to the morality of businesses to exclude cigarettes from their promotional campaigns," Chao said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ANGELICA OUNG
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Celebrations marking Double Ten National Day are to begin in Taipei today before culminating in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on the night of Thursday next week. To start the celebrations, a concert is to be held at the Taipei Dome at 4pm today, featuring a lineup of award-winning singers, including Jody Chiang (江蕙), Samingad (紀曉君) and Huang Fei (黃妃), Taipei tourism bureau official Chueh Yu-ling (闕玉玲) told a news conference yesterday. School choirs, including the Pqwasan na Taoshan Choir and Hngzyang na Matui & Nahuy Children’s Choir, and the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra, flag presentation unit and choirs,
China is attempting to subsume Taiwanese culture under Chinese culture by promulgating legislation on preserving documents on ties between the Minnan region and Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said yesterday. China on Tuesday enforced the Fujian Province Minnan and Taiwan Document Protection Act to counter Taiwanese cultural independence with historical evidence that would root out misleading claims, Chinese-language media outlet Straits Today reported yesterday. The act is “China’s first ad hoc local regulations in the cultural field that involve Taiwan and is a concrete step toward implementing the integrated development demonstration zone,” Fujian Provincial Archives deputy director Ma Jun-fan (馬俊凡) said. The documents
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