The Health Promotion Administration yesterday cautioned the public against drunk driving, which killed an average of one person every two days last year.
“According to statistics compiled by the Ministry of the Interior, between 2012 and last year, drunk driving fatalities peaked during January and February, the time of year companies hold year-end banquets,” Health Promotion Administration Director-General Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞) said at a press conference in Taipei yesterday morning.
Chiou said a total of 115,253 drunk-driving cases were reported last year, resulting in 169 deaths, meaning that, on average, every two days one person died in an alcohol-related car accident.
In addition to endangering the lives of others, consumption of alcohol has been associated with health problems, including high blood pressure, liver cirrhosis, strokes and breast, stomach, esophageal and rectal cancers, Chiou said.
“Alcohol intake is proportional to the risk of developing health issues. For example, people who drink the equivalent of 25g, 50g and 100g of pure alcohol per day are 2.9, 7.1 and 26.5 times more likely to develop liver cirrhosis than their non-drinking counterparts,” Chiou said.
WHO estimates attribute the harmful use of alcohol to about 3.3 million premature deaths worldwide per year, accounting for 5.9 percent of total overall deaths, Chiou said.
“More alarming was that a survey conducted by the administration in 2013 which showed that about 60 percent of respondents aged 18 and older have consumed alcohol and 20 percent of them have been drunk,” she said.
Chiou urged businesses to adopt three measures to combat drunk driving after year-end parties: Ask all employees who have consumed alcohol take public transportation home, cooperate with taxi firms to offer a ride home and assign two people at each table to be the designated drivers for less sober colleagues.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
RSS