Invalid Hit

I'm getting back into fencing after a 20+ year hiatus and have been
catching up on all the rule changes. But I just came across something
that has appalled me.

In Nick Evangalista's book, The Inner Game of Fencing, printed in
2000, he writes on page 58,

" ... the fencing powers-that-be have decided that off-target touches
in the game of foil will no longer be recognized." He goes on to
describe in detail the problems with this.

My question: IS THIS TRUE????

If so, what has happened because of this?

Tom