The John Tung Foundation and other civic groups yesterday made an urgent call for revisions to tobacco regulations aimed at smoking, after studies showed a rising number of young people were picking up the habit.
More than 150 civic groups called for tighter tobacco restrictions that would mitigate the harmful effects of exposure to second-hand smoke and the “excessive marketing and advertisement efforts” by tobacco companies.
About one in five adults in Taiwan smokes cigarettes, a proportion similar to that in Western countries.
However, the foundation said a chilling statistic showed that in the past three years, the proportion of young people who smoked had increased from 6 percent to about 8 percent.
“Taiwan has not increased the cigarette tax in 24 years,” John Tung Foundation president Yau Sea-wain (姚思遠) said. “The lack of action to make cigarettes more expensive is not helping to curb demand for cigarettes.”
The foundation and other groups said amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) were needed to increase the tobacco health surcharge, as well as prohibiting smoking in all indoor public areas and workplaces.
The foundation also called for restrictions on the packaging of cigarettes and displays in stores, such as increasing the proportion of surface area on cigarette packaging for warnings on the harmful effects of tobacco from the current 35 percent to as much as 90 percent.
The goal is to minimize recognition of cigarette brands among young people and their exposure to marketing techniques by cigarette companies, which have sought to create brand loyalty among young people, the foundation said.
The groups said that even though Taiwan signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005, which vows to curb cigarette smoking, the government had made few improvements in its laws and implementation to adhere to the treaty.
The convention was the world’s first global public health treaty. It was also the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO.
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
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.
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
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