After the Democratic Progressive Party (DDP) took office last year, epidemiological studies into the naphtha cracker in Yunlin’s Mailiao Township (麥寮) were stopped, academic Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權) said at a forum in Taipei yesterday.
The forum on air pollution, titled “I Breathe, I Decide,” was organized by National Taiwan University’s Risk Society and Policy Research Center and the Fubon Cultural and Educational Foundation.
Chan, who is vice dean of National Taiwan University College of Public Health, said his studies commissioned by the Changhua and Yunlin county governments were concluded last year and in March respectively.
Despite his persistent inquiries about extending the research, the local and central governments have no plans to do so, he said, adding that he is the only academic researching the environmental influence of Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s naphtha crackers.
Last month, Chan published a study about cancer risks in Changhua’s Dacheng (大城) and Jhutang (竹塘) townships, north of the cracker in Yunlin.
The study found that cancer and death rates were correlated with toxic emissions from the plant.
The sour smell that local residents often complain about is from high concentrations of formic acid, a carcinogenic substance, in the air, possibly from the plant, Chan said.
Despite changes of government over the decades, air pollution in Yunlin and Changhua continue to worsen, he said, adding that the locals smell not only the sourness, but also the “intense smell of politics.”
Chan said he had suggested the government choose between closing the plant or closing the nearby Ciaotou Elementary School’s Syucuo (許厝) branch, and the government chose the latter.
“Will the government choose differently this year, either the plant’s closure or the displacement of Changhua’s Dacheng and Yunlin’s Mailiao townships?” Chan asked.
He called on the government to continue epidemiological studies about petrochemical plant emissions, adding that studies should also be undertaken in Taoyuan, Taichung and Kaohsiung and Nantou, Chiayi, Pingtung and Penghu counties.
At the forum, US-based Society for Social Studies of Science Council member Gwen Ottinger said that she advocated “epistemic justice” in the fight against air pollution.
“Epistemic injustice means treating someone unfairly in his or her capacity as knower because of their structurally marginalized identity,” she said.
She encouraged people in polluted areas to gather data and to articulate their “lived experiences of pollution,” to challenge officials’ and experts’ categorization systems.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS