New stem cell storage businesses, including umbilical cord blood banks, will have to be approved by the Department of Health (DOH), health authorities said yesterday, adding that those who fail to do so would be fined.
Shih Chung-liang (石崇良), the director-general of the Bureau of Medical Affairs, said that new operators of umbilical cord blood banks, as well as bone marrow, bone, skin and teeth preservation services, are required to register their business.
Only companies that provide stem cell preservation services for medical research purposes are exempted.
Companies that are already in existence must also complete their registration before the end of August or they will be fined for violating the Medical Care Act (醫療法). The DOH did not give any details on how much the fine will be.
“By law, the DOH regards businesses involved in the preservation of human tissue or organs as special businesses so they will need to complete registration,” Shih said.
For the storage of teeth stem cells, Shih said applicants will be required to submit a human experiment proposal from a major hospital to obtain the DOH's approval.
Shih said two companies recently began offering milk teeth stem cell preservation services. Stricter regulation of such companies is needed as there is insufficient evidence or experimental data to prove that it is safe, he said.
“We need to ensure the quality of these preserved stem cells, organs or human tissues, so potential medical arguments can be avoided,” Shih said.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
RSS