The Taipei City Government on Wednesday became the nation’s first local government to pass a jurisdiction-wide ban on e-cigarettes via a self-government ordinance.
If the Executive Yuan ratifies the measure, the city would impose a broad-ranging prohibition on the sale, advertisement, display and commercial transportation of novel tobacco products, including vaping devices and heated tobacco units.
Additionally, vaping and using heated tobacco products is to be banned in a 50m zone around schools.
Photo: Lin Ching-lun, Taipei Times
Businesses that breach the proposed regulation are to be fined NT$2,000 to NT$10,000, while those who use novel tobacco devices in a prohibited zone are to face the same fines and attend an anti-tobacco program.
The city ordinance, which initially targeted only vaping devices, was expanded to include heated tobacco products at the suggestion of Taipei City Councilor Wang Hong-wei (王鴻薇) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Health Promotion Division Director Lin Meng-hui (林夢蕙) lauded the council’s decision, but said the city has not drafted a timetable for implementing the ban.
The tobacco industry has promoted novel tobacco products as a means to reduce harm from second-hand smoke and as a smoking cessation aid, but these claims are false, she said.
Lin said government testing showed that more than 80 percent of e-cigarettes contain nicotine, and that the devices create dependence on the substance.
E-cigarette use has been linked to higher risks of cancer, cardiovascular and lung diseases, and congenital birth defects in infants, she said, adding that the public wants their use regulated.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
RSS