The Environmental Protection Administration has called on New Year's Eve and Lunar New Year revelers to forgo firecrackers and fireworks this year and celebrate the holidays in a more environmentally friendly fashion.
"In addition to the physical danger posed by fireworks, the EPA advises against fireworks because they are harmful to human health as they release large amounts of heavy metal particles into the air," said Chang Shun-ching (張順欽), the EPA's department of environmental monitoring and information management senior specialist.
Chang cited the Yenshui Beehive Rockets (蜂炮) Festival in Yenshui Township (鹽水), Tainan County, saying that the administration's air quality evaluation last March showed the fireworks released more than 10 times the normal amount of baseline pollutants into the air.
The fine and coarse pollutants released into the air were potassium, aluminum, magnesium, barium, lead, strontium, calcium, sodium, iron and zinc, Chang said.
Strontium, potassium and barium were at 365, 182 and 147 times baseline density after the Yenshui celebrations, he said.
"People are advised to gauge their own health conditions before attending events that use fireworks, since the pollutants may trigger asthma attacks or other problems in those with weaker respiratory systems," he said.
In related news, dust coming from northeastern China would probably continue to cloud the nation's skies over the coming days, Chang said yesterday.
Although the dust cloud was forecast to subside yesterday or today, the public is advised to stay at home the next few days and avoid strenuous outdoor activity.
Children, the elderly and people with heart or respiratory conditions or compromised immune systems are especially affected by the dust, he said.
‘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 High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS