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.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to