The Executive Yuan (Cabinet) formally announced last evening the relaxation of import restrictions on U.S. beef products amid growing protest.

Taiwan remains free of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) , or mad cow disease, and is classified by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as a country with a “controlled BSE risk,” the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Monday.

Most medical workers have received shots of vaccinations for A(H1N1) flu immunization while the Ministry of Education is planning more flexible measures for schooling to cope with the rising number of classes suspended by the epidemic.

The Taipei Veteran General Hospital (Taipei VGH) signed an agreement Monday with Sanofi-aventis, Europe's No. 1 pharmaceutical company and the world's No. 3, to jointly set up a clinical research and development center that will explore new drugs for treating heart disease.

Taiwan's first in-vitro baby has grown into a handsome man who, at 24, is now studying biomedicine at a graduate institute at National Taiwan University, medical sources said Monday.

Health officials reiterated yesterday that silicone gel implants used in cosmetic plastic surgery was still illegal in Taiwan.

The Taiwan-made vaccine for influenza A(H1N1) is more trustworthy than imports because human clinical trials for the vaccine were conducted on local participants, the manufacturer said Monday.

Churchgoers have been found to have lower rates of drinking and smoking than those who spend their Sundays elsewhere.

Fear of adverse events such as miscarriages, rare neurological conditions and ordinary heart attacks will discourage some people from participating in mass vaccination efforts to fight swine flu, but public health experts said on Friday they could fight back with statistics.

Many Typhoon Morakot-affected people began to line up at makeshift health stations early yesterday to get swine flu shots as a nationwide immunization program designed to help avert the spread of the virus kicked off.