The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday said aluminum hydroxide and triclosan, chemicals that can lead to a series of health problems, were found in certain toothpaste brands, and urged the government to set limits on the legal levels for those substances in consumer products.
The watchdog group surveyed 27 brands of toothpaste, ranging in price from NT$26 to NT$189, sold at supermarkets, convenience stores and retail chains. The toothpastes were tested for certain chemicals as well as product labeling.
One brand, Japanese-made Sunstar Lark, which retails for NT$129, not only violates product labeling regulations, but was found to contain more than 1,000 parts per million of aluminum, the foundation said. However, it does not violate consumer product regulations because there are no standards for aluminum content in toothpaste.
Chen Chih-yi (陳智義), foundation secretary-general, said triclosan, calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, aluminum hydroxide and titanium dioxide were commonly found in consumer products such as toothpaste. However, while certain chemicals have effective teeth-cleaning properties, others, such as aluminum, have been gaining the attention of experts after studies have been shown to possibly have harmful effects on human health.
The foundation said 12 brands of toothpaste were in violation of the Commodity Labeling Act (商品標示法) over inadequate Chinese-language labeling, inconsistencies between content and ingredient labeling and lack of warning labels.
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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