Taiwan is soon to issue its first decision on whether to approve the sale of a heated tobacco product, two years after amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) were promulgated in March 2023.
The amended tobacco act allows a path to legalization for heated tobacco products on a case-by-case basis, Health Promotion Agency (HPA) Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said yesterday.
Eleven tobacco manufacturers have submitted claims to the HPA, six of which have completed the documentation assessment phase of the approval evaluation process, Wu told a news conference.
Photo: CNA
Product testing, which composes the second phase of the evaluation, takes six months and the result of one manufacturer’s application is expected to be announced as soon as next month, he said.
The manufacturer would be authorized to commercialize their product with the appropriate labeling and health warning should it pass the assessment, he added.
If not, the manufacturer can submit product documentation again to restart the process or litigate the outcome by seeking an administrative remedy, Wu said.
Announcements of the application results would be staggered, as they did not complete the documentation phase at the same pace, he said, adding that missing or unsatisfactory documents must be rectified for the process to continue.
Separately, the Alliance of Banning Cigarettes Taiwan, a coalition of advocacy and medical groups against tobacco use, held a news conference yesterday denouncing the amended act.
Lin Ching-li (林清麗), an official at the John Tung Foundation, said the approach of banning flavored cigarettes by listing specifically prohibited additives is flawed.
Tobacco companies easily skirt the regulations by creating new substances to stay ahead of regulators, she said, adding that 90 percent of first-time smokers use a flavored product.
The WHO recommendation is to prohibit all artificial or natural flavoring agents, she said.
Bars continue to allow patrons to smoke indoors without establishing a separate smoking area as the law requires, Mother’s Shield Alliance secretary-general Tang Hsien-mei (唐仙美) said.
Members of the coalition also said that the “health risk assessment,” the HPA’s misguided name of the approval process, enables manufacturers to untruthfully advertise heated products as a less harmful alternative to cigarettes.
Tobacco product sales approval evaluation or assessment should be the correct terminology for the testing protocol, they said.
HPA Tobacco Control Division head Lo Su-ying (羅素英) said the government had comprehensively gathered the opinions of experts and medical professionals when drawing up the act.
The agency’s name for the process reflects its intended purpose of scientifically gauging a product’s public health impact, she said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by