The Consumer Protection Committee yesterday urged the public to exercise caution when using ceramic cooking pots for Chinese herbal medicines after 90 percent failed tests.
The agency randomly tested 15 electronic herbal medicine cooking pots purchased online, as well as from electric appliance shops, pharmacies and hardware stores in New Taipei, Hsinchu and Hualien cities in October last year.
“Five of the tested products lacked some of the components detailed in their initial test reports,” consumer ombudsman Wang Teh-ming (王德明) told a press conference in Taipei.
He cited as an example the “Yi Shou ceramics Chinese medicine pot” (益壽陶瓷中藥壼), which he said did not have a ground wire attached to its plug, increasing the risk of electric shocks.
Manufacturers of the faulty products have been ordered to make the necessary improvements within a statutory period, and those who fail to comply will have their sales licenses revoked, Wang said.
In addition, eight of the products tested did not conform to labeling requirements, he said, urging consumers to carefully examine the cooking pots before purchase and to unplug them after use.
In related news, the Changhua County Public Health Bureau yesterday released the results of a random testing of fish oil supplements.
Eight out of the 10 tested products were found to contain far lower levels of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) than advertised.
The only two products were that passed the tests were both manufactured in Taiwan, the bureau said.
Singling out Po Chih Chang Fish Oil (柏之暢魚油), which is made of ingredients imported from Germany, the bureau said that the product claimed to contain 180mg of EPA and 120mg of DHA per a 1,000mg capsule, but in reality, the fish oil contained only 30mg each of the two substances.
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
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