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.
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