NGOs urge Taiwanese government to upgrade Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act to catch up with the times

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/13
By: Judy Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Data collected by The Lancet, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and University of Washington on Taiwanese smoking population in 2015. (Photo courtesy of The Lancet)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—More than 72 civil organizations in Taiwan submitted a petition to lawmakers to update the decade-old Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act ahead of the World No Tobacco Month in May, following latest international studies indicating a rise in smoking related deaths at a press conference on Wednesday.

Lastest studies by Global Burden of Disease report conducted by The Lancet from 1995-2015, showed growing trends of smoking related deaths, such as heart diseases, tuberculosis, oral cancer, lung cancer, and others.

Smoking related deaths claimed lives of 6.4 million people in 2015, amounting to 11.5 percent of total global deaths that year, according to the report.   [FULL  STORY]