The first legally approved heated tobacco products were on Friday removed from shelves shortly after they were released on the same day, as inspectors found that product packages did not mark their nicotine content.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Health Promotion Administration (HPA) in late July announced that it conditionally approved 14 heated tobacco products from two tobacco companies.
Eight types of products from one company went on sale on Friday, but inspectors on the same day found that those on shelf failed to meet the requirements, and they ordered products to be removed from shelves.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Department of Health
Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) oversaw unannounced inspections in convenient stores in Taipei.
Shih yesterday said that many inspections took place across the country on Friday.
Shih said that the first convenience store he checked was out of such products, so the inspectors could only checked whether the products’ display and advertisement followed to the standards.
However, inspectors in other administrative regions reported that some products did not specify nicotine content on their package, so the ministry ordered the removal of all products from shelves until their packages are reviewed again and meet the standards, he said.
The company manufacturing mislabeled products had sent package samples for review when applying for approval, and those specified the amount of nicotine, he said, adding that the problem might have occurred during the mass production or shipment processes, but the company would be held accountable.
“We have first ordered it to remove all its products from shelves, because they do not comply with the standards, and then, we would clarify its responsibilities,” he said.
At the same time, the ministry would also examine the nicotine content of the products to see if they meet the regulations, Shih said.
Heated tobacco products, unlike cigarettes, do not produce tar when burned, so the main health risk is nicotine-related, and the legal standard is no more than 1mg of nicotine per stick, he said.
If the lab examination shows that the nicotine content complied with the standard, then the company would only be at fault for mislabeling, he said.
The results are expected to be available next week, Shih added.
The HPA said that the mandatory labeling of tar and nicotine on containers of tobacco products is based on Regulations for the Testing Nicotine and Tar Content in Tobacco Products and the Labeling of Tobacco Product Containers (菸品尼古丁焦油含量檢測及容器標示辦法).
If heated tobacco products fail to specify their nicotine content on the package, the manufacturer or importer faces a fine up to NT$5 million (US$162,941), it said.
The Taipei Department of Health said that as of 7pm on Friday, the joint inspection by the ministry, the HPA and the department had inspected 115 retailers and found five heated tobacco products that failed to mark their nicotine content, so the importer would be fined NT$1 million to NT$5 million, and the retailers NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 each.
The HPA and the Taipei department also said that heated tobacco products cannot be sold to people younger than 20 years and pregnant women, adding that the government holds a “zero tolerance” stance on such products’ sale to adolescents.
The city government said it banned retailers within 50m from high schools and elementary schools from selling such products.
Additional reporting by Sun Wei-jung
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS