The Department of Health (DOH) is considering asking retailers to lock up charcoal sold in their stores to prevent people with suicidal tendencies from getting their hands on it.
A recent study by the department found that the most common suicide methods in the country were hanging, burning charcoal indoors and drinking pesticide, said Wang Tsung-hsi (王宗曦), deputy director of the department’s Bureau of Medical Affairs.
Although the number of deaths from suicide fell from 4,400 in 2006 to 3,417 last year, about two-thirds of them were caused by hanging or carbon monoxide poisoning from burning charcoal in a closed space, Wang said.
The study also found that burning charcoal was the method of choice to take one’s life in urban areas in the north, while ingesting pesticide was more common in rural areas in the south because it is more readily available, Wang said.
The idea of locking up charcoal in stores was inspired by Hong Kong, where the government tried the idea first in Tuen Mun District and it lowered the number of suicide deaths by half, he said.
The same idea may be applied to pesticides, he added.
The department plans to require that pesticide manufacturers set aside NT$1 for every kilogram of product sold to finance the production of storage containers with locks.
The containers will be given to farmers to store their pesticides, preventing others from getting their hands on the potentially deadly chemicals, Wang said.
Medical Affairs Bureau Director Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) urged store clerks to watch out for people who only purchase charcoal.
The government has shown renewed concern over the issue after a family of four were found dead in their home in Shulin District (樹林), New Taipei City (新北市), after using charcoal to take their lives. The parents apparently killed themselves and their children because of their inability to pay off their debts, police said.
New Taipei City recorded 548 suicides last year, 30 percent of which were from charcoal burning, the municipality’s health department said.
The DOH had planned to require registration of charcoal purchases, but dropped the idea after it drew heavy public criticism, officials said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
RSS