The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday said it would place limits on the use of the preservatives methylisothiazolinone (MI) and a mixture of methylchloroisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone (MCI/MI), following a media report questioning athe absence of a standard in the country compared with long-established restrictions in the EU, the US and Japan.
The report cited a study released at the British Association of Dermatologists’ Annual Conference in July, which pointed out that an epidemic of contact allergy to MI and MCI/MI may be on the horizon.
According to the study, the sensitization rate to MCI/MI remains at a high prevalence of about 2 percent. This is even after “the maximum concentrations of 7.5 and 15 ppm for leave-on and rinse-off products, respectively, were recommended” in the wake of “a European ‘epidemic’ of contact dermatitis caused by MCI/MI” when sensitization rates rose to 5 percent.
FDA official Yeh Meng-yi (葉孟宜) said that maximum concentrations of MI and MCI/MI are scheduled to be announced. The preliminary conclusion of the expert meeting on the matter is that the limits should be set at 0.01 percent (100ppm) for MI and 0.0015 percent (15ppm) for MCI/MI.
“MI will not be allowed at all in products that come into contact with mucous membranes, and the maximum concentration of MCI/MI for rinse-off products will be set at 0.1 percent [1,000ppm],” Yeh said, adding that the regulations have been discussed and proposed in accordance with those of the EU.
When it was pointed out that the European Commission is now planning to restrict the use of MCI/MI to rinse-off products, which have been restricted to a maximum MCI/MI concentration of 0.0015 percent, Yeh acknowledged that the EU’s standard is stricter, but added that the limits made public in response to the media report have not yet been finalized as further discussions will be carried out and experts’ opinions solicited.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS