More than 37% of vendors unlawfully sell cigarettes to teens: report
01/26/2021 10:46 PM
CNA file photo
Taipei, Jan. 26 (CNA) Teenagers in Taiwan can easily buy cigarettes at 37.1 percent of stores across the country that sell the item, even though it is illegal, a government commissioned report that inspected 660 businesses has found.
The randomly selected businesses included grocery stores, internet cafes, convenience stores and other sellers nationwide, said the Consumers Foundation, which was commissioned by the government to carry out the investigation.
The investigation was conducted April-October last year, with the buyers posing as high school students in uniform, the foundation said.
It found that teenagers were able to buy cigarettes at 47.6 percent of grocery stores and internet cafes, 41.6 percent of betel nut stands, 27.2 percent of convenience stores, and 21 percent of supermarkets and hypermarkets included in the investigation, the foundation said.
Taiwan’s ‘cancer death clock’ worsens by 11 seconds
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
Taiwan’s “cancer death clock” in 2018 worsened by 11 seconds to an average of one person diagnosed with cancer every four minutes and 31 seconds, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday, as it announced the nation’s top 10 cancers.
Citing Taiwan Cancer Registry data from 2018, the HPA said that the “cancer death clock” sped up by 11 seconds from 2016.
A total of 116,131 new cancer cases were diagnosed in 2018, an increase of 4,447 from 2017 and a record for Taiwan, it said.
Lin Li-ju, director of the Health Promotion Administration’s Cancer Prevention and Control Division, releases the 2018 cancer report at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.