Hundreds of fallen sick from vaping in the U.S. this summer and New York has just become the first state to ban e-cigarettes. But in Taiwan, e-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products were never legalized.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/09/18
By: Yang
Translator: Andrew Maxey
Infographic: Yu Cheng-ying

New York banned flavored e-cigarettes on September 17 after hundreds of vaping-related breathing illnesses surfaced in the United States this summer.

In Taiwan, about 24,000 smokers die from smoking every year and nearly 2,600 non-smokers died from secondhand smoke. On average, one person loses his or her life every 20 minutes due to the harmful effects of smoking. Measures to reduce smoking have continuously been a focus of Taiwan's domestic policy, but in the wake of continuous innovation in e-cigarette and T-vapor technology, it seems that a solution is forever out of reach.

After implementing the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act over a period from 1997 to 2009, Taiwan now prohibits smoking in most indoor places and mandates the printing of warning labels on tobacco product packaging, while promoting various efforts to help people to quit smoking. According to the Health Promotion Administration statistics, the adult smoking rate fell from 21.9 percent in 2008 to 14.5 percent in 2017.    [FULL  STORY]