A group of legislators has demanded that TV commercials promoting products that "instantly lower blood alcohol levels" should be pulled from the airwaves because they are both misleading to the public and encourage drunk driving.
DPP legislators Yu Jan-daw (
The commercials, aired on cable TV, show two young men administering breath-alcohol tests to drinkers at a night market.
They are shown being tested before consuming the product, and then tested again afterwards -- the results of which show enormously reduced blood alcohol levels.
"These commercials look like they're objective and scientific. But we know from the city government's investigations that these products don't work at all," Wang said.
The Taipei City Government's Bureau of Health, in conjunction with city police, released the results of its investigations into 12 such products on Monday. They were found to contain vitamins, minerals and in some cases Chinese herbs -- but no elements which help the body break down alcohol faster.
"We want these companies to pull their ads. They are totally inappropriate," Yu said.
"With commercials for these products playing 24 hours a day, people are going to get the idea that it's OK to drink and drive," he said.
The legislators also complained that the product does not clearly state on its packaging whether it is a food or a medicine.
They called on the Department of Health, the Fair Trade Commission and the Government Information Office to enforce existing regulations against false advertising, clarify for the public what these products are and investigate their prices.
Prices for 50ml to 70ml bottles range from NT$200 to NT$300.
The director of the food sanitation bureau at the Department of Health, Chen Shu-kung (陳樹功), denounced the products yesterday, saying that they made "unrealistic claims" and misled the public as to their real effects.
Any decision about whether to restrict advertisements for the products should be made by the GIO, he said.
Pharmaceutical affairs officials at the department declined to answer any questions about the product yesterday, instead referring all inquiries to the food bureau.
Chang Chung-jen (
But the GIO's position on the commercials is quite clear, he said.
"If the Department of Health considers these products beverages and they are being advertised as having medicinal effects, then this is false advertising -- the commercials are violating the Fair Trade Law and are illegal," Chang said.
Representatives from Con Pack International, the makers of No More Booze, continued to deny yesterday that their product or its advertising made any false claims.
"There isn't a company on Earth that would suggest you drink and drive," said a customer service representative surnamed Lin, who refused to give her full name.
"Our product will lower your blood alcohol level, but our commercials don't suggest that it'll bring you below the legal limit [for driving]. Maybe people have misunderstood our ads," she said.
The product in question is a beverage, not a medicine, and as such does not require any approval from the Department of Health, she said.
When asked about the company's prices and what Con Pack planned to do if its ads were banned, the firm's customer service representative curtly referred further questions to the company's public relations department.
Con Pack's PR office did not respond to calls made by the Taipei Times yesterday.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
RSS