Protesters on Wednesday gathered outside the legislature to demand that cigarettes be made illegal, after health risk assessments were only conducted on heated tobacco products (HTPs) for the latest changes to tobacco law.
To mark World No-Tobacco Day, which is held every May 31, New Taipei City Volunteer Parents’ Association president Ho Jou-ping (何若萍) led a group of advocates in a demonstration outside of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
The Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) was amended earlier this year, but the changes only applied to HTPs and vapes, not traditional paper cigarettes, Ho said.
Photo copied by Wang Kuan-jen, Taipei Times
Health risk assessments were also only conducted on HTPs, with most paper cigarettes not needing to undergo a review, she added.
Paper cigarettes are easy to get everywhere in Taiwan, yet they pose a serious danger to public health, she said.
Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic, leading the WHO to classify it as one of the worst sources of air pollution, Ho said.
She suggested that Taiwan follow New Zealand’s example and ban cigarettes.
“If New Zealand can do it, why can’t Taiwan?” she asked.
Starting this year, no one born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, can purchase tobacco products in New Zealand in a bid to phase out smoking over time.
If a ban is impossible, Ho said the government should at least require cigarette products to undergo health risk assessments as a prerequisite for their sale, she said.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS