From Mar. 22, health warnings must cover at least 50 percent of cigarette packaging, up from 35 percent, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday.
Article 11 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control requires all contracting parties to ensure that tobacco product packaging carry health warnings describing the harmful effects of tobacco use, the HPA said, adding that it has been proven to be an important tool in communicating the effects of smoking.
The article also stipulates that the warnings “should be 50% or more of the principal display areas but shall be no less than 30% of the principal display areas.”
Photo: CNA
A 2021 report by the Canadian Cancer Society found that 166 countries required health warnings on cigarette packaging, including 122 countries (about 73 percent) which required that health warnings cover 50 percent or more of the packaging, the HPA said.
Studies have also suggested that changing the images and text used in warnings could help maintain their effectiveness, it said.
However, the frequency at which health warnings are changed varies among countries, with Chile rotating its warnings most frequently (once per year on average), it said.
The Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) promulgated in 1997 required warning message to be printed on cigarette packages, but it had a limited effect, so the act was amended in 2007 to ensure that warning images and text cover at least 35 percent of the packaging, starting in 2009.
Warning images remind smokers of the harmful effects of tobacco use and clearly convey their message to children and adolescents, reducing the possibility of them picking up the harmful habit, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said yesterday.
The act was amended on Mar. 22 last year to stipulate that warnings must cover at least 50 percent of cigarette packaging, and those who contravene the rule face a fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000, he said.
While many know smoking can increase the risk of liver disease, liver cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke, the HPA cited a WHO document titled “More than 100 reasons to quit tobacco” and said that “smoking causes many eye diseases which, if left untreated, can lead to permanent vision loss.”
The US Centers for Disease Control and the New York State Department of Health have published data linking smoking to an increased risk of developing serious eye conditions, including macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma and even blindness, the HPA said.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a