By Jake Chung / Staff writerThe use of vaping devices and e-cigarettes among the nation’s junior, senior and vocational-high school students has more than doubled within a span of three years, the Health and Promotion Administration （HPA） said yesterday, underscoring the rampancy of vaping devices on campuses.
Local academics on Tuesday last week pushed back against the government’s latest bid to amend the Tobacco Hazard Prevention Act (菸害防制法), saying that driving tobacco use underground through unreasonable regulations could cause more harm than good to public health.
The comments came after the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee earlier that day placed the bill on the legislative agenda.
The bill would impose stricter restrictions, including raising the legal age for smoking to 20, expanding no-smoking zones and making warning graphics bigger.
The amendments also propose banning a slew of tobacco products including flavored, slim and electronic cigarettes.
A population that smokes
By Rachel Lin and Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Ministry of Education has called on schools at all levels to update their regulations and ban e-cigarette use on school property.
The Ministry of Education has called on schools at all levels to update their regulations and ban e-cigarette use on school property.
K-12 Education Administration Division Head Huang Ching-i yesterday said that the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) already prohibits smoking cigarettes at high-school level and below.
However, while young children and teenagers are aware of the health risks of cigarettes, they are liable to misunderstand the dangers of novel e-cigarettes, given that they are promoted as “healthier,” “free from secondhand smoke” and “helpful for quitting smoking cigarettes,” she said.
Huang said that people or companies who manufacture, import or sell e-cigarettes containing
Smoker rights groups yesterday protested outside the legislature in Taipei against a proposal to ban e-cigarettes.
Holding signs that read: “Consumers have rights, too,” “Give me the freedom to choose” and “Do not force me to smoke cigarettes,” protesters said the government should not impose a blanket prohibition against e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs).
The government must respect the rights of smokers, they said, adding that it should offer people choices, instead of instituting an outright ban.
The protest was in response to the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee considering changes to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) that would