The Clean Air Alliance yesterday called on the public to join a protest in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei today against tobacco regulations that benefit cigarette manufacturers.
Police said traffic restrictions would be in place in the area.
Heated tobacco products might help reduce secondhand smoke, but they still cannot be sold legally, despite it being a full year since the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) was amended, while 14 new types of traditional paper-wrapped cigarettes have been approved for sale, the alliance said.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Department of Health
The review standards for heated and traditional cigarettes were disparate and unfair toward heated tobacco products, benefiting cigarette manufacturers, it said.
Police said that organizers had submitted a schedule showing that they are to gather at 9am, set out at 10am and finish at noon.
Traffic restrictions for Ketegalan Boulevard are to include three westbound lanes, including Zhongshan S Road to Gongyuan Road, police said.
Restrictions might be in place before the start time, depending on traffic conditions, they said.
Separately yesterday, the Taiwan Anti-smoking Alliance said that the government should step up efforts to curb online sales of electronic cigarettes and focus on stopping imports at source.
The government should curb cigarettes in schools to achieve its total ban on smoking on campuses, the group said.
A rule requiring that warning labels cover 50 percent of cigarette packaging, which took effect today, is an improvement, but more work is needed, as Taiwan only ranks 16th in the world in terms of warning label coverage, down from fourth previously, it said.
National Alliance of Presidents of Parents’ Associations deputy director-general Chiao Hui-fang (焦惠芳) said that regulations for heated tobacco products fail to ban the 10 most popular flavors, showing that the rules do not meet global standards.
Common Good Association secretary-general Chang Wen-chang (張文昌) said that few venues have complied with the amended act’s demand that restaurants, bars and nightclubs ban smoking entirely.
The government must reinforce the policy, Chang said.
Taiwan Medical Alliance for the Control of Tobacco secretary-general Kuo Fei-jan (郭斐然) said there is evidence that transitioning from traditional to heated products does not mitigate health risks.
Action Alliance on Basic Education chairman Wang Han-yang (王瀚陽) said that heated tobacco products are not authorized in Taiwan and urged the government to increase penalties for distributors that promote such products.
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
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The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has been investigating nine shell companies working with Prince Holding Group, and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is seeking further prosecution of alleged criminals, a source said yesterday. The nine companies and three Taiwanese nationals were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 14 as Specially Designated Nationals as a result of a US federal court indictment. Prince Holding founder Chen Zhi (陳志) has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding’s suspected forced-labor camps in Cambodia, the indictment says. Intelligence shared between Taiwan,
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