SOCIETY
Anti-Poverty Alliance formed
Several civic groups yesterday officially launched the Anti-Poverty Alliance, aiming to push for policies to reduce poverty in the country. The alliance, which includes the Taiwan Labor Front, the Taiwan Peacetime Foundation, Amnesty International Taiwan, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the Taiwan Alliance for Fair Tax Reform and The Homeless of Taiwan, is concerned particularly about the nation’s widening gap between the rich and poor as well as skyrocketing real-estate prices. The alliance plans to come up with a set of more concrete policy agendas to address the poverty issue within a year and seeks to work with sympathetic politicians.
HEALTH
HIV plan worries groups
Activist groups and individuals voiced concern at a public forum yesterday about a government plan to end free treatment for people infected with HIV. The soaring drug fees that come with the growing number of HIV/AIDS patients, as well as a large budget deficit, have led the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to consider halting the free treatment program that has existed since 2006. However, the CDC said treatment for HIV/AIDS patients would remain free until legislation dictates otherwise, although it did not rule out “other alternatives” to reduce expenditures. The annual budget for AIDS treatment last year was NT$1.52 billion (US$47.5 million), but with the proposed subsidy plan, the government would save only NT$30 million per year, a spokesman for Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association said. AIDS activists said the government should instead consider procuring generic drugs and encourage local pharmaceutical companies to develop non-branded products, which could reduce costs.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taiwan is bracing for a political shake-up as a majority of directly elected lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) face the prospect of early removal from office in an unprecedented wave of recall votes slated for July 26 and Aug. 23. The outcome of the public votes targeting 26 KMT lawmakers in the next two months — and potentially five more at later dates — could upend the power structure in the legislature, where the KMT and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) currently hold a combined majority. After denying direct involvement in the recall campaigns for months, the
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