To curb smoking, the government is planning to impose a more stringent ban on electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and enlarge health warning graphics on cigarette packets.
Lawmakers and Cabinet officials at a coordination meeting between the Executive Yuan and the Democratic Progressive Party caucus on Monday agreed to impose a more encompassing and forceful ban on e-cigarettes to lower smoking rates.
A draft amendment to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法), which the Executive Yuan is to approve and submit to the legislature on Thursday, is to ban the manufacture, import, sale and advertising of e-cigarettes.
Under the amendment, the manufacture and importation of e-cigarettes would be punishable by a fine of NT$50,000 to NT$250,000, while the sale of e-cigarettes and their use in non-smoking areas would be punishable by a fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000, Cabinet deputy spokeswoman Chang Hsiu-chen (張秀禎) said.
E-cigarettes are currently banned based on an order issued by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, but it is not codified in the act, leaving legal wiggle room, Chang said.
“It is estimated that between 60,000 and 70,000 junior and senior-high school students in Taiwan have used e-cigarettes. Teenagers who have used them are six times more likely to smoke regular cigarettes, so the government must ban e-cigarettes to protect teenagers’ health,” Chang said.
As e-cigarettes contain nicotine, they are also addictive, Chang said, adding that the WHO has advised their regulation.
“The possession and use of e-cigarettes is legal, but should be regulated as regular cigarettes, meaning that people under 18 and pregnant women are prohibited from using e-cigarettes, and it is illegal to use them in non-smoking areas,” he said.
Meanwhile, the amendment would also require cigarette producers to increase the size of health warning graphics to 85 percent of the size of the packet.
Only 35 percent of a cigarette packet is required to be covered by a health warning graphic under current regulations.
The amendment would also ban flavored cigarettes, as well as require the government to provide legal and medical assistance to people who have sustained injuries or damage after attempting to dissuade people from smoking or refusing to offer cigarettes to underage people.
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