Doctors and oral cancer patients yesterday condemned a "betel nut culture convention" which began yesterday in Kaohsiung.
The convention features betel nut products, betel nut art and a bevy of scantily clad girls, better known as "betel nut beauties" (
Taking advantage of the sizeable number of foreign visitors to the convention, the organizers held an impromptu "big nose betel nut rolling" competition.
PHOTO: HU CHING-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES
"Many foreign visitors were curious to try betel nut for the first time," Li Shuo-min (李碩敏), one of the event organizers, said yesterday.
"Betel nut use is a part of Taiwanese culture, and should not be oppressed by the government," she said.
criticism
Although Li claimed that the convention was about "celebrating betel nut culture" rather than promoting betel nut use, the event nonetheless drew criticism from Hahn Liang-jiunn (
"Can you imagine a similar event being held to promote tobacco?" asked Hahn at a press conference held in Taipei by the DOH's Bureau of Health Promotion.
Critical of the government's relatively lax regulation of the addictive seed of the betel palm, Hahn said that standards for advertising and warning labels should be as strict for betel nuts as for tobacco.
"The medical evidence is clear -- betel nut is harmful to human health," he said.
"The nut itself, not just the lime paste it is served with, has been identified as carcinogenic in humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer," Hahn said.
He also slammed the Council of Agriculture (COA) for not doing more to discourage the crop.
"Betel nut should not be considered just another crop. It certainly should not be subsidized by the government," Hahn said.
"The proposed reimbursement for betel nut farmers whose crops are destroyed by natural disasters is still under discussion," said Huang Mei-hua (黃美華), director of the COA's crop production division.
mouth cancer
Sixty-year-old Tsai Lin-chang (蔡林樟) shared his story at the press conference to illustrate Hahn's concerns. Tsai contracted mouth cancer in his left cheek in his twenties after heavy betel nut use in his youth.
Yet he continued to chew until he got mouth cancer a second time, this time in his right cheek which resulted in the removal of much of his cheek and jaw.
"Chewing betel nuts is just not worth it," he said, having been left permanently disfigured and with a speech impediment.
"No matter how they package it or who is selling it, a betel nut is a betel nut and it will still give you cancer," he said. "Don't be fooled by the marketing."
Studies have shown that in countries and communities where betel nut is consumed extensively, there are vastly higher levels of oral cancer than elsewhere.
Betel nut chewers in Taiwan have been found to have a 28 times higher risk of acquiring oral cancer than non-users.
Betel chewing is addictive, and some practitioners consume vast quantities.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS