The Taiwan Electromagnetic Radiation Hazard Protection and Control Association (TEPCA) will hold a rally on May 14 urging the government to establish stricter regulations against radiation hazards.
The association hopes the rally will help to raise awareness about the need to protect against electromagnetic radiation
As part of this effort, a fund raising banquet was held yesterday to release a documentary titled “I don’t want electromagnetic -radiation in my home,” which illustrated the health risks associated with electromagnetic radiation exposure and the importance of prevention and control.
The documentary featured alleged victims of long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation from Wufeng Township (霧峰) in Greater Taichung and Chiku Township (七股) in Greater Tainan, which are home to a high-voltage sub-station and a weather radar station respectively.
Although the long-term health effects of electromagnetic radiation exposure have yet to be -confirmed, alleged victims recounted how an increasing number of people in their neighborhoods suffered from physical and mental illnesses, including chronic headaches, insomnia, miscarriages and cancer after the stations became operational.
One woman living near the Wufeng high-voltage substation said she has to wear a radiation protection helmet at home and sleep with her head in a tinfoil-covered box to prevent chronic headache.
In the documentary, TEPCA founder and chairperson Chen Jiau-hua, (陳椒華) said that the safe level for exposure to extremely low frequency (ELF) emissions suggested by the Environmental Protection Administration is 833mG, but that is based on guidelines set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) for transient or very short-term peak fields, she added, and should not, therefore, be used to regulate long-term exposure.
Cheng Tse-chou (鄭哲舟), a doctor at Chi-Mei Hospital, said many people only think of biological and chemical hazards as posing health risks, because symptoms are usually more sudden and apparent, yet radiation leaves no visual signs and can take many years before -symptoms start to show.
Cheng said because susceptibility to such ailments varies among people, the problem is often dismissed and in some cases its very existence is questioned. He urged the government to take the issue more seriously.
Hsu Li-min (許立民), a doctor at National Taiwan University Hospital, said that people in the late 1980s underestimated the health effects of X-ray exposure. Because technology always runs ahead of our proper understanding of it, people should be more cautious of electromagnetic radiation than they currently are and the government should tighten regulations governing such emissions, he said.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS