The Executive Yuan’s Consumer Protection Office yesterday said that an inspection found that 11 out of 15 hand sanitizer products, as well as four out of 11 Internet advertisements, failed to meet standards.
The office launched the inspection over reports that some hand wash solutions with alcohol content contained methanol and had caused some users to faint, develop permanent blindness or have epileptic seizures, office senior consumer ombudsman Wang Te-ming (王德明) said.
The inspection covered all solutions sold at brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce sites in May and June, he said.
Office secretary Ko Meng-chun (柯孟君) said that eight out of 15 products were found to contravene the Commodity Labeling Act (商品標示法) for failing to provide detailed label information in Chinese about the manufacturer, the manufacturing date and some of the core ingredients.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Central Region Office has asked local governments to notify the companies in breach of the act to correct the labeling within a certain period or face fines of NT$20,000 to NT$200,000 (US$678 to US$6,776) until they comply with the law, Ko said.
Only two of the products specified on their labeling that they were intended for medical use, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) technical specialist Syu Jhih-yu (許芷瑀) said.
The other 13 contravened Article 69 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法) for using words such as “disinfect” or “kills germs” on their labeling, which is punishable by fines of NT$600,000 to NT$25 million, Syu said.
The offending products have been confiscated and disposed of, she added.
According to Article 6 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, products marketed as having the ability to kill germs or viruses, or cure or prevent diseases, are categorized as having a “curative effect,” which in effect makes them “drugs,” which must undergo clinical trials and be approved by the FDA, Syu said.
However, sanitizers marketed as “bacteriostatic” or “antimicrobial” are not considered mislabeled by the FDA, she said.
They fall under the jurisdiction of the Fair Trade Commission or the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which can require companies selling such products to provide documented laboratory test results, she added.
Of the 11 advertisements inspected by the office, four failed to meet standards, Environmental Protection Administration Department of Toxic and Chemical Substances Division Deputy Director Chen Shu-ling (陳淑玲) said.
The Japanese-made “Wonderful Spray” was fined NT$60,000 and its advertisements were removed from the Internet for contravening the Environmental Agents Control Act (環境用藥管理法).
Wang urged consumers to check the labeling of products before buying them and not to purchase products with smudged labeling or unclear description of products.
Additional reporting by Sean Lin
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS