Today (October 22), more than a dozen non-governmental organizations in Taiwan accused a “major tobacco company” of deliberately violating Taiwan’s Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act by failing to label nicotine content on its newly released heated tobacco products, according to CNA English News. While the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) has not officially banned the media from disclosing the company’s name, news sources are withholding it to avoid inadvertently promoting the brand and violating advertising restrictions under the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act.
Last week, the HPA ordered eight product types from the same company pulled from shelves on their first day of sale after inspectors found the required nicotine labeling missing. Lin Ching-li, director of the Tobacco Control Division at the John Tung Foundation, questioned why the company “would prefer being fined NT$5 million ($162,600) rather than labeling the nicotine content and complying with the law.”
Health Minister Shih Chung-liang said the company submitted samples for pre-market review that did include nicotine labels, and authorities are now investigating why the approved samples differed from retail products. Shih said fines would be imposed once responsibility is determined and noted that the products are being tested to confirm whether their nicotine content meets the legal limit of 1 milligram per stick. Research cited at the press conference by Dr. Guo Fei-ran of National Taiwan University Hospital found that heated tobacco products in other countries contained an average of 4.7 milligrams of nicotine per stick, well above Taiwan’s legal threshold.
Lin suggested the company may have intentionally avoided labeling because the products exceed legal nicotine limits, calling it an “unspeakable secret.” She added that multinational tobacco firms generate around NT$180 billion annually in Taiwan’s tobacco market, making the NT$5 million fine insignificant by comparison. The NGOs urged tougher enforcement to prevent companies from exploiting loopholes and to ensure that public health laws are upheld.
