State-owned Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (TTL) came under fire yesterday from the anti-tobacco John Tung Foundation over last week’s relaunch of “La Rose 520” menthol cigarettes, which the group said was obviously aimed at expanding the smoking population among women and the young.
“In the 21st century, when other advanced countries are devoting increased efforts to tobacco control among women and the youth, it is inconceivable that a government-owned corporation would conspire to harm the health of this group in our nation,” said Lin Ching-li (林清麗), director of the non-governmental organization’s tobacco control division.
The cigarettes sport heart-shaped filters, pink packaging and are rose-flavored, Lin said, adding that the number “520” corresponds to president-elect Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration date.
“The number is also commonly used by younger generations as meaning ‘I love you’ because the number sounds like the phrase in Mandarin,” he said.
Since cigarette smokers have a 70 percent loyalty rate to their brands of choice, Lin said the new product could only be interpreted as TTL’s effort to open new markets.
“The cuteness factor of the product is obviously made to appeal to young girls,” she said.
The product was first developed in 1999, Lin said, but anti-tobacco activists got wind from an anonymous source within the TTL before the cigarettes hit the shelves and managed to stall the launch during a three-month fight in the legislature.
“Seeing it resurrected on the market [nine years after such a battle], I worry that peer influence and the delicate packaging will bend young girls’ minds about smoking,” she said.
In addition to the obvious health risks, littering of cigarette butts and the prevalence of fires started by cigarettes — as much as 15 percent of all accidental fires — make tobacco a costly social burden, Lin said.
“Since the implementation of health and welfare taxes on cigarette sales in 2002, a lot of money has been spent on tobacco control. The results, however, have been far from positive,” she said.
While 40 percent of adult males are smokers today — down from 47 percent in 2002 — the figures aren’t as good as they might appear, she said.
“Overall tobacco sales have increased from 2002, indicating that the smoking population has shifted to teenagers and females. The sale of 520 La Rose would very likely aggravate this problem,” she said.
As for a solution to the problem, Lin said the issue was now in the hands of the government.
“Any anti-La Rose 520 efforts could turn into a marketing campaign for the new cigarettes; instead, the problem would be very easily fixed if the government realizes the dire consequences the cigarettes would bring and [removes them from the market],” she said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
RSS