Blood serum and plasma imported from China will not be used for the purpose of transfusions in Taiwan, the Department of Health (DOH) assured the public on Friday. The announcement was made in response to lawmakers’ concerns after the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) allowed the opening up of the nation’s blood market to blood from China, which has one of the fastest-growing AIDS rates in the world.
The DOH said Chinese-imported blood serum and plasma are to be used only for in-vitro diagnostic tests and are banned from being used for blood transfusions or for human use.
“The public has nothing to worry about. All serum and plasma imported from China can only be used as a raw material for the purpose of in-vitro diagnostic tests for hepatitis B and AIDS,” Bureau of Medical Affairs director Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) told a press conference, adding that all imported blood must undergo close inspection and obtain approval from the DOH before entering the Taiwan market.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
Shih said that as a part of the application for DOH approval, all biotech companies that intend to import plasma must provide documentation that proves the origin of the sample, and that the samples must have tested negative for various infectious viruses, in line with WHO protocols.
Furthermore, Shih said, the law requires that all blood, serum and plasma to be used for blood transfusions must be extracted in Taiwan.
On Friday, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wen Chin-chu (翁金珠) chided the MOEA for putting the nation’s health at risk by approving the imports of serum and plasma from China despite the fact that malaria is endemic in some parts of China.
Reported cases of HIV and AIDS in China have escalated rapidly in recent years, she said.
“The DOH said Taiwanese citizens who have traveled to malaria-affected regions in China are not allowed to donate blood for one year after their visit. However, the government has clandestinely opened up Taiwan to blood from China,” she said, adding that she suspected some high-ranking officers are behind the deal for personal profit.
USAIDS said China’s HIV epidemic remains fairly low, but added that there are pockets of high infection among specific sub-populations and in some localities.
Estimates on the organization’s Web site show that by the end of 2007, approximately 700,000 Chinese were HIV positive. The HIV infection rate among China’s population is 0.05 percent.
An estimated 85,000 Chinese have AIDS and of those, 35,000 have been infected through commercial blood donations and transfusions.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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