A civic group urged the government yesterday to take action to dissuade children and teenagers from using mobile phones because of health concerns.
The Taiwan Electromagnetic Radiation Hazard Protection and Control Association (TEPCA) presented results of a survey on child and teenager cellphone use, along with information about the levels of electromagnetic radiation produced by cellphones marketed in Taiwan.
The survey, conducted last month and this month among children and teens aged six to 18, found that 34.4 percent of polled elementary school students, 67 percent of junior high school students and 89.6 percent of senior high school students used cellphones.
Based on the survey, the association, a non-governmental organization promoting legislation to restrict the impact of electromagnetic radiation on public health, estimated that around 2.2 million children and teenagers nationwide have their own mobile phones.
The survey also found that the older respondents talked longer on the phone, estimating that 390,000 young cellphone users speak on the phone for at least five minutes per call on average and 170,000 speak for more than 10 minutes per call.
Meanwhile, tests on the electromagnetic radiation levels of 33 types of mobile phones showed that more than 60 percent of the handsets emitted electromagnetic radiation 1 million times higher than the background level, or general exposure level to electromagnetic fields.
The association said that many industrialized countries have advised children, teenagers and pregnant women to refrain from using cellphones.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
RSS