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.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
RSS