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台湾禁烟新规明年1月上路 高校里不能叼着烟走 

中新网7月2日电 台湾禁烟新法明年1月11日将上路。台当局卫生部门指出，三人以上室内工作场所等地都不能抽烟。大专院校不仅室内不准抽烟，也不能叼着烟在户外四处走，而必须设有室外抽烟区。

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New tobacco chairman vows steady prices 

New Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp. Chairman Duan Wei said yesterday that the state-run company's prices have not risen all recently and that the company will strive to keep prices steady under his leadership.

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Taiwan's most popular smoke-free station named  

Hsinchu Railway Station in northern Taiwan, an elegant baroque building listed as a provincial level historic site, has been selected as the most popular smoke-free railway station in Taiwan, according to a poll released yesterday.

At an award presentation ceremony, Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) Director-General Frank Fan said that with a view to increasing the public's appreciation for the architectural beauty of various train stations and demonstrating the state-run company's resolve to protect passengers' health, it conducted the poll with the Bureau of Health Promotion.

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OFFICIAL PROPOSES PRIVATIZATION OF TAIWAN TOBACCO & LIQUOR CO 

The only way for the state-run (TTL) to maintain stable operational growth and achieve sustainable development is to privatize the company, Vice Minister of Finance Liu Teng-cheng said Tuesday.

Liu made the remarks at a ceremony marking a change over of new and outgoing TTC chairmen and general managers. He mentioned that the company has found it increasingly harder to survive since Taiwan opened its doors to foreign breweries and tobacco companies in 2002.

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Market goes smoke-free 

Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (�?]) promoted the nation’s first non-smoking traditional market on Saturday as the city marked World No Tobacco Day, describing it as a new milestone in his campaign to turn Tainan into a smoking-free city.

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• Meet the four-year-old cigar addict!  

A four-year-old boy is being treated in a Taiwanese rehab for his addiction to cigars.

The boy and his brothers, also below 10 years, were taken to the Taiwanese rehab centre after their dad caught them stealing his tobacco.

When asked about their addiction, the boys said that they did it because they thought their father looked "cool" when he smoked.

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Smoke-free areas set for major expansion next year 

As the world celebrates World No Tobacco Day today, the Department of Health (DOH) is reminding people that all public facilities and indoor work environments will be smoke-free from next year.

The policy, scheduled to take effect on Jan. 11, will essentially ban smoking in indoor facilities designed for more than three people, such as government organizations, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, Internet cafes or Karaoke bars.

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EDITORIAL: When governments should butt out 

Anti-smoking lobby groups can take a degree of comfort from the decision of the state-run Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (TTLC) on Wednesday to remove the number "520" from the name of a recently launched cigarette brand.

The decision to remove the numerals was made after TTLC came under pressure from campaigners who accused it of targeting the cigarettes at young people and trying to capitalize on the inauguration of president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — “520” means “I love you” in text messaging culture and also happens to be the date of Ma’s swearing-in. . . .

Admittedly, the government has been trying for more than six years to privatize TTLC — that is, since accession to the WTO in 2001 required opening the tobacco and alcohol markets to foreign competition.

However, as with the banking sector, this has met with predictable resistance from the company’s labor union.

It would therefore be best for all concerned if the new government took advantage of its fresh start and swiftly privatized the TTLC.

Then the authorities could concentrate on the roles that a state ought to perform: regulation and enforcement.

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• Group fights ‘La Rose’ cigarettes 

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.

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Quit smoking campaign to kick off; prize of NT$600,000  

The International Quit and Win 2008 campaign will start May 2, with a top prize of NT$600,000 (US$19,750) waiting for smokers who kick the habit, officials of the Bureau of Health Promotion (BHP) said yesterday.

The biennial International Quit and Win competition was initiated in 1994 by the National Public Health Institute of Finland and is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Taiwan first joined the competition in 2002, with each contest receiving a warm response from the public over the years.

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Indoor air quality is three times worse than outdoor: German expert 

The air quality of a non-smoking office is three times worse than the quality of outdoor air, a Taipei-based German environmental expert said Tuesday.

Many modern construction materials contain chemicals that are harmful to human health and so do many office equipment, said Andreas Gursch, deputy director of the Germany Trade Office in Taipei.

Gursch, an expert on waste management and resource recycling, made the remarks after posing the question -- "Is your office killing you? " -- to employees of the Taipei county government in a keynote speech on German green buildings and renewable energies.

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NGO urges gov't to do more to control tobacco use 

An anti-tobacco organization says the Taiwan government should try harder to control the use of tobacco.

The NGO John Tung Foundation made the comment in a media interview on Friday. The remark came after a World Health Organization report on Thursday that tobacco kills 5.4 million people a year. . . .

However, the John Tung Foundation said Taiwan can do much better. The foundation said the government should raise the tobacco commodity tax from 50 percent to at least 70 percent like most European countries. The foundation argued that high prices are the most effective way to reduce tobacco use. The foundation also called on the government to come up with more resolute anti-tobacco policies and establish a smoke-free environment.

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• Most kids are victims of second-hand smoke: poll 

As many as 90 percent of children surveyed by the Formosa Cancer Foundation identified themselves as victims of second-hand tobacco smoke, with the majority exposed to the hazard at home.

The results of the survey were released yesterday to coincide with "World No Tobacco Day," whose theme this year is tobacco-free youth.

The survey showed that while more than 90 percent of respondents wish to live in a smoke-free environment, 70 percent have family members who smoke at home and another 60 percent have been forced to breathe second-hand smoke exhaled by a guest. . . .

In related news, the John Tung Foundation, the nation's biggest anti-smoking non-profit organization, has called upon bureaus of health nationwide to fine convenience stores for not excluding cigarettes from giveaway promotions.

After collecting a certain number of purchase coupons at convenience stores -- including cigarettes -- customers can redeem them for collectible giveaway figurines. The foundation argues that such giveaways could encourage smoking, especially among younger people, who are most likely to be attracted to the figurines.

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Cigarette price hike needs more support  

Good news came in for anti-tobacco campaigners last week. If changes to the Tobacco Hazard and Control Act pass, the price per pack of cigarettes is to dramatically rise to over NT$100. The Department of Health's Bureau of Health Promotion has begun work on draft amendments to the Tobacco Hazard and Control Act that would increase the health tax on cigarettes by a staggering 350 percent. If the law goes through, the government's tax surcharge will be raised to NT$45 per pack of "death sticks" from the current NT$10 per pack.

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DOH seeking NT$35 tax hike on cigarettes  

The Bureau of Health Promotion (BHP) is pushing to amend existing regulations that would sharply increase the health tax on cigarettes by 350 percent, to a surcharge of NT$45 per pack of cigarettes from the current NT$10.

Officials at the BHP under the Department of Health (DOH) said they are currently drafting revisions to rules in the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act, as part of an ongoing campaign to stem the rising number of young smokers in the country by making cigarettes less affordable.

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