Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) yesterday accused a tobacco company of deliberately breaking the law by failing to label nicotine content on heated tobacco products, and urged authorities to step up enforcement after the items were ordered pulled from shelves last week.
Many have asked why the tobacco company would prefer “being fined NT$5 million (US$162,702) rather than labeling the nicotine content and complying with the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法),” Lin Ching-li (林清麗), director of the Tobacco Control Division at the John Tung Foundation, said at a news conference in Taipei.
Lin and representatives from 12 other NGOs at the news conference urged tougher enforcement after the Health Promotion Administration ordered eight types of heated tobacco products — all from the same company — pulled from shelves on Friday last week, their first day on sale.
Photo: CNA
The eight products were Taiwan’s first legally approved heated tobacco products to reach the market, but were quickly pulled from shelves after inspectors found the packaging did not list nicotine content as required by law.
Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) on Saturday said that the company had submitted samples for review and “the samples were labeled with nicotine content.”
Shih also said authorities are investigating where the process failed, why the products differed from the submitted samples and that fines would be imposed once responsibility is established.
Guo Fei-ran (郭斐然), an attending physician in the Department of Family Medicine at National Taiwan University Hospital, cited a paper last year in the online academic journal Toxics, which examined heated tobacco products sold in nine nations and found that they contained an average of 4.7mg of nicotine per stick.
“That exceeds Taiwan’s legal limit of 1.0mg [per stick],” Guo said, adding that a document published by the tobacco company involved in the case indicated that its heated tobacco products contain 18mg to 20mg of nicotine per gram of tobacco, equivalent to approximately 4.3mg to 6mg per stick.
Describing it as an “unspeakable secret,” Lin said that if the tobacco company complied with the law by labeling nicotine content on heated tobacco, it might not be able to sell its products in Taiwan as they exceed the legal limit.
“Multinational tobacco companies generate about NT$180 billion a year in Taiwan’s tobacco market, so they have money and power,” she said, adding that such resources can “make things go their way,” and making a NT$5 million fine negligible by comparison.
Following their removal from the shelves, some of the heated tobacco products were sent for testing to determine whether their nicotine content meet the stipulated standards.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
RSS