The recent Betel Nut Culture Exposition and Forum at the Kaohsiung Business Exhibition Center was greeted with great fanfare. It seemed Taiwan wanted to convince the international media that chewing betel nut was part of Taiwanese culture. I find this deeply disturbing.
Research has shown that those who habitually chew betel nut, smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol are compounding their risk of developing cancer.
In the last 25 years, cancer has been the leading cause of death in Taiwan, with oral cancer the fourth-deadliest form. Nine out of 10 people who suffer from oral cancer are betel nut chewers. The oral cancer rate is increasing at an annual rate of 20 percent.
In 2003, the International Agency for Research on Cancer confirmed that the betel nut, without any supplements, is a carcinogen. The National Health Research Institute has said that within five years, Taiwan will lead the world in male oral cancer. Those little green betel nuts are a major public health menace.
My parents were both long-time betel nut chewers. They died from esophageal cancer and oral cancer. Toward the end, they were unable even to drink water, suffered from insomnia and lived with constant hunger pains. Seeing their suffering made a deep impression on me. I have been involved in medical service for nearly 60 years and know the impact of betel nut on public health. I only hope that more people can avoid the fearful and terrible pain of cancer.
Is betel nut culture really something that Taiwan should be proud of and flaunt? Ten years ago, the government started to require helmets for those riding mopeds, a measure that halved the number of fatal accidents and saves 3,000 lives annually. Most people were able to look beyond the inconvenience of strapping on the helmet to support behind the policy.
The Bureau of Health Promotion began to push for betel nut prevention this year, but this job requires a coordinated effort from all parts of the government, not just one bureau.
For example, the Ministry of Education could lend a hand with mass education and the Ministry of Finance could study the viability of doubling the tax on betel nuts. The Government Information Office could spread the word about the risks of chewing betel nut, while the Ministry of the Interior and the National Police Agency could work to ban illegal betel nut stands or betel nut beauties displays.
The Council of Agriculture and the Ministry of Economic Affairs should ban the importation of foreign betel nut while assisting betel nut farmers to switch careers.
The government should try to establish a culture where people refuse to chew betel nut. This plan would be like a helmet, one that could protect people against oral cancer. Taiwan should then be able to proudly tell the world about its declining cancer rate and have its people no longer live in fear of oral cancer.
Chang Chin-wen is honorary chairman of the Taiwan Hospital Association.
Translated by Jason Cox
US president-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named US Representative Mike Waltz, a vocal supporter of arms sales to Taiwan who has called China an “existential threat,” as his national security advisor, and on Thursday named US Senator Marco Rubio, founding member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China — a global, cross-party alliance to address the challenges that China poses to the rules-based order — as his secretary of state. Trump’s appointments, including US Representative Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the UN, who has been a strong supporter of Taiwan in the US Congress, and Robert Lighthizer as US trade
A nation has several pillars of national defense, among them are military strength, energy and food security, and national unity. Military strength is very much on the forefront of the debate, while several recent editorials have dealt with energy security. National unity and a sense of shared purpose — especially while a powerful, hostile state is becoming increasingly menacing — are problematic, and would continue to be until the nation’s schizophrenia is properly managed. The controversy over the past few days over former navy lieutenant commander Lu Li-shih’s (呂禮詩) usage of the term “our China” during an interview about his attendance
Following the BRICS summit held in Kazan, Russia, last month, media outlets circulated familiar narratives about Russia and China’s plans to dethrone the US dollar and build a BRICS-led global order. Each summit brings renewed buzz about a BRICS cross-border payment system designed to replace the SWIFT payment system, allowing members to trade without using US dollars. Articles often highlight the appeal of this concept to BRICS members — bypassing sanctions, reducing US dollar dependence and escaping US influence. They say that, if widely adopted, the US dollar could lose its global currency status. However, none of these articles provide
Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), the son of former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee Politburo member and former Chongqing Municipal Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai (薄熙來), used his British passport to make a low-key entry into Taiwan on a flight originating in Canada. He is set to marry the granddaughter of former political heavyweight Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政), the founder of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital in Yilan County’s Luodong Township (羅東). Bo Xilai is a former high-ranking CCP official who was once a challenger to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the chairmanship of the CCP. That makes Bo Guagua a bona fide “third-generation red”
RSS