The John Tung Foundation yesterday called for stronger government regulation of electronic cigarettes and other new types of tobacco products, saying it has received complaints from parents about shops near schools.
The foundation, which is marking its 36th anniversary today, told a news conference in Taipei that it received a report from a mother of a senior-high school student in northern Taiwan about a shop selling smoking accessories that recently opened across the school.
The school has 2,300 students and teachers, the foundation said.
Other parents have also complained about a newly opened shop selling electronic cigarettes near two elementary schools in northern Taiwan, it said.
To avoid inspections, some sellers allegedly use the sale of smoking accessories as a guise when, according to the parents, various tobacco products can still be purchased inside the stores, the foundation said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare has over the past three years repeatedly emphasized that electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products are illegal, foundation chief executive officer Yao Ssu-yuan (姚思遠) said.
However, sellers have continued to open stores, he said, adding that the foundation fears sellers are confident that electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products would be allowed.
Even a student at the senior high school has asked why the shop was able to open directly across their school, said Lin Ching-li (林清麗), head of the foundation’s Tobacco Control Division.
The shop near the elementary schools only opens when school is open, and not on weekends, she said.
This is just the “tip of the iceberg” and similar situations exist outside northern Taiwan, she said.
Even though some products claim to be less harmful, they are still harmful, said Lai Chih-kuan (賴志冠), a physician at Taipei Veterans General Hospital’s family medicine department.
With their “cool” high-tech appearance, these products are very attractive to adolescents, Lai said.
Although authorities continue to say electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products are illegal, they can easily be found online, said Yu Kai-hsiung (游開雄), former chairman of the Consumers’ Foundation and a lawyer.
He urged local governments to set up ordinances banning shops within 400m from elementary and high schools from selling electronic cigarettes and other new types of tobacco products.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS