The Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday said it would propose a draft bill on betel nut control by the end of the year, after the Control Yuan urged the Executive Yuan to take action against oral cancer.
Control Yuan members Jao Yung-ching (趙永清), Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠) and Hsiao Tzu-yu (蕭自佑) yesterday issued a statement calling for the creation of a betel nut control act in light of its health impact.
Chewing betel nuts could lead to oral and esophageal cancer, it said, adding that Taiwan’s oral cancer rate is the highest in the world.
Photo: Chang Tsung-chiu, Taipei Times
While Turkey lists betel nut as a narcotic, and Thailand has implemented regulations banning imports of the fruit, “Taiwan has yet to take any proactive action for 20 years,” the statement said.
The Control Yuan had investigated the problem and requested the Executive Yuan to implement regulations in November 2021, but it has not made any concrete progress toward regulating the fruit since, it said.
There have long been no regulations on betel nut, as the ministry “does not regard betel nut as a food that could be regulated by the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation [食品安全衛生管理法], while the Ministry of Agriculture does not consider them agricultural produce,” it said.
Although a program has been implemented to replace betel nut trees with environmentally friendly crops, betel nuts remain Taiwan’s second biggest crop after rice, with up to 40,000 hectares of farmland used to cultivate it, the statement said.
Agencies should step up efforts to control betel nut imports, inspect harmful components such as “red lime” and “white lime,” increase incentives for farmers to grow crops other than betel nut, enhance advocacy of betel nut prohibition at schools and step up searches of teenagers suspected of purchasing betel nut, it said.
The Executive Yuan should expedite the establishment of an act to control betel nut use and alert the public to the severe health consequences of chewing betel nut, the statement added.
Minister Without Portfolio Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) on Wednesday attended the interpellation session at the Control Yuan on behalf of the Executive Yuan, along with Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) and Deputy Minister of Agriculture Huang Chao-ching (黃昭欽), saying that “the draft act to control betel nut use is expected to be submitted to the Executive Yuan for review between the end of this year and the beginning of next year.”
Department of Oral Health Director-General Chang Yung-ming (張雍敏) yesterday said the department has commissioned experts to help formulate the draft bill, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
There are more than 8,000 new cases of oral cancer every year in Taiwan.
The rate of chewing betel nuts has been brought down from 1.18 percent in 2013 to 0.4 percent in 2021 among junior-high students, from 2.46 to 1.66 percent in the same period among senior-high students, and from 5.8 to 3.5 percent among adults, Chang said.
Warning text and pictures would be added to betel nut packages similar to cigarette products, but a health tax would make a bigger impact and would be discussed, she said.
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
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
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
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