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SINGAPORE: Tomorrow marks World No Tobacco Day, a day on which we remember the health risks of tobacco use and think about how we can reduce smoking in particular.
It bears repeating that smoking remains one of the unhealthiest addictions prevalent in today’s society: Smokers suffer and die from lung and related cancers, heart diseases, chronic bronchitis, stroke and more.
But what is not said is the cost to society – which can be measured in dollars and cents. A study a few of us at NUS did back in 2002 found that a conservative estimate of medical costs for smoking-related diseases in 1997 alone stands at more than S$70 million.
The high medical costs aside, it was also reported that Singapore’s total social cost of smoking in the same year amounted to a much larger sum – of about S$700 million. This is because smoking not only incurs direct medical costs, but also indirect costs in terms of productivity losses.
File photo of a consumer looking at tobacco products.
LOST WORKING HOURS AND PRODUCTIVE YEARS
Workplace absenteeism is generally more common among smokers. In one study conducted in Sweden in 2006, Swedish smokers on average take 7.7 more days of sick leave annually relative to their non-smoking colleagues.
It seems that time spent treating smoking-related illnesses translates into lost working hours, and consequently lost production for the employer and the economy.
In a less apparent form, “presenteeism” is expected to be more pervasive among smokers as well. Presumably, there is a higher chance that smokers are present at the workplace despite being ill, since smokers are more likely to be ill to begin with. We have all, at some point, experienced dragging ourselves to work with a sinus, headache or a throat irritation.
Yet, more often than not, it is difficult to focus and function in such a state. Again, productivity suffers.
Smoke breaks also constitute working hours not spent working. If a smoker were to spend 10 minutes every hour travelling to designated smoking areas and puffing away, he or she would be working 17 per cent less than his or her non-smoking colleagues, which could be deemed as unfair.
This is of course an exaggerated illustration since everyone takes breaks, although it can also be argued that smokers set the precedence for breaks for non-smokers. Smoke breaks, which are driven by addiction, tend to be more indispensable.
A dilemma arises – removing smoke breaks is not an option either, now that smokers are used to taking smoke breaks, and since doing so could decrease their productivity even more in the short run.
A man taking a cigarette break. (Photo: AFP/TED ALJIBE)
Smokers may claim that the allure of lighting up provides motivation to work more efficiently, that nicotine as both a stimulant and relaxant boosts work performance, that smoking provides time for reflection, or that gatherings in smoking rooms generate not only gossip but also intellectual and productive discussions.
Perhaps they are not wrong. Nevertheless, there are plenty of other healthier alternatives.
LARGE COSTS BORNE BY SOCIETY
The ugly truth is that the above-mentioned productivity losses are in fact largely incurred by employers. A 2013 study by Ohio State University estimates that the excess annual cost of a smoking employee in the US stands at US$5,816 (S$8,050), including medical fees which companies have to bear.
In addition, negative health externalities imposed on passive smokers can also lead to further productivity losses. This may explain why numerous companies all over the world refuse to hire smokers, aside from negative health and public image considerations.
Taking a broader perspective, smoking depreciates human capital in the long term, and has even greater implications for the macro-economy, especially in countries highly dependent on human capital such as Singapore. Smokers have more years lost due to ill health, disability and younger mortality, decreasing the effective labour force a country possesses.
If smokers don’t die prematurely from smoking-related diseases, they would still be productive and be able to contribute to national output. Smokers’ forgone future production stream is extrapolated to cost Singapore close to a billion in current dollars annually.
Ohio State University estimated that the excess annual cost of a smoking employee in the US was US$5,816 including medical fees which companies have to bear. (Photo: AFP)
As cold as this may sound, we can go on forever identifying each and every economic impact of smoking because the effects of smoking are far reaching: Lower-income workers who spend a large portion of their income on cigarettes will naturally spend less on better alternatives such as a healthier diet or their children’s education.
Smokers have lower fertility rates, physiologically or through diminished marketability in the marriage market.
Time and resources also have to be devoted by family members to care for their loved ones suffering from serious smoking-related diseases.
LONG-TERM PRODUCTIVITY LOSSES
To examine the overall mid- to long-term macroeconomic impact of smoking, a 2005 study conducted by one of the authors investigated the correlation between 14 OECD countries’ economic growth and their respective per capita cigarette consumption.
Results again show that the costs of cigarette smoking in the form of productivity losses is considerably large, going up to US$4 to US$6 per worker per hour in some countries.
Therefore, we might want to rethink tobacco to be a cause of preventable productivity loss, in addition to being the world’s largest cause of preventable death. The gains of curbing tobacco abuse might be larger than preconceived.
Smokers often claim that as long as they are not smoking in the presence of others, their choice to smoke is not harming others. This is factually erroneous, since the immediate loss of productivity, and the long-term burden on society in the form of morbidity and premature mortality are significant.
Over the years, Singapore has invested significantly to ameliorate the problem of smoking, and has achieved considerable success through legislation, for instance, restricting the use of public space for smoking, raising the minimum legal age for purchase, and implementing a ban on point-of-sale display, as well as public education, among other measures.
More can be done to stamp out smoking, for instance limiting the places where cigarettes can be bought and increasing the tax on tobacco.
A study of 14 OECD counties show the costs of cigarette smoking in the form of productivity losses is considerably large, going up to US$4 to 6 per worker per hour in some countries. (Photo: AFP)
But it will be prudent to return to our focus on productivity.
CUSTOMISE SOLUTIONS FOR SPECIFIC INDUSTRIES
For smokers, quitting will take time, attention, effort and concentration from work, especially when withdrawal symptoms are severe. Nevertheless, evidence have surfaced that productivity gains after quitting could outweigh the costs even in the short run.
Currently, most programmes helping smokers kick the habit in Singapore are initiated by the Government and interest groups. We reiterate that employers should have the same, if not larger, incentive in advocating a smoke-free working environment. This also suggests that policy measures, such as services or education to help smokers kick the habit, could be targeted at and customised for specific industries and employees.
Employers could provide incentives to employees to ditch the habit. They could publicly acknowledge employees who have achieved success in giving up smoking, and set aside a special fund for employees to join clinics or undergo treatment and medication to overcome their smoking addiction and withdrawal challenges.
Employers could also organise workshops conducted by experts to learn how to quit smoking and other health matters, as well as enforce a non-smoking environment on company premises.
In all, companies could mount a strong campaign against smoking, emphasising the harmful effects of smoking, by themselves or in partnership with the Government.
This is especially so for industries with a high proportion of smokers, such as the construction industry, or for industries in which the costs of smoking may be higher, such as food services where having employees who smoke could have health implications for patrons.
Discriminating against smokers when hiring may be a harsh intervention. Government, employers and society at large need to unite against smoking, not smokers.
It is a delicate balance of creating a health-conscious society that frowns upon smokers on the one hand, and on the other, offers smokers a gentle nudge and encouragement to quit, that our society should strive towards.
Moreover, we need to reflect on the increasing and sustained harm brought about by cigarettes, and recognise the health, economic and social costs. We also need to take stock and evaluate the effectiveness of existing and suggested interventions.
It is about time that we as a society put an end to the lucrative tobacco industry and the scourge of smoking.
Euston Quah is Professor and Head of Economics at Nanyang Technological University. He is also the President of the Economic Society of Singapore. Tan Tsiat Siong is a researcher at the same university.
SINGAPORE: Unlicensed food handlers were caught at a stall at the Geylang Serai Bazaar on Tuesday (May 30), said Member of Parliament Zainal Sapari.
The food handlers were also working illegally, and were detained during a joint operation conducted by the police, the Manpower Ministry (MOM) and the National Environment Agency (NEA), according to Mr Zainal.
He revealed this on Facebook, on a public page called Halal Cafe and Restaurants in Singapore, in response to photographs online which showed an apparent raid at the stall and some people in handcuffs.
The photos made their rounds on social media on Tuesday afternoon, as netizens speculated on why the stall was raided.
Channel NewsAsia has reached out to the police, NEA and MOM for comment.
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Dozens of foreign jihadis have fought side-by-side with Islamic State sympathizers against security forces in the southern Philippines over the past week, evidence that the restive region is fast becoming an Asian hub for the ultra-radical group.
A Philippines intelligence source said that of the 400-500 marauding fighters who overran Marawi City on the island of Mindanao last Tuesday, as many as 40 had recently come from overseas, including from countries in the Middle East.
The source said they included Indonesians, Malaysians, at least one Pakistani, a Saudi, a Chechen, a Yemeni, an Indian, a Moroccan and one man with a Turkish passport.
“IS is shrinking in Iraq and Syria, and decentralizing in parts of Asia and the Middle East,” said Rohan Gunaratna, a security expert at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
“One of the areas where it is expanding is Southeast Asia and the Philippines is the centre of gravity.”
Mindanao has been roiled for decades by bandits, local insurgencies and separatist movements. But officials have long warned that the poverty, lawlessness and porous borders of Mindanao’s predominantly Muslim areas mean it could become a base for radicals from Southeast Asia and beyond, especially as Islamic State fighters are driven out of Iraq and Syria.
Although Islamic State and groups affiliated to the movement have claimed several attacks across Southeast Asia in the last two years, the battle in Marawi City was the first long drawn-out confrontation with security forces.
On Tuesday, a week after the fighting began, the government said it was close to retaking the city.
Last year, Southeast Asian militants fighting for Islamic State in Syria released a video urging their countrymen to join the cause in the southern Philippines or launch attacks at home rather than attempting to travel to Syria.
Jakarta-based terrorism expert Sidney Jones passed to Reuters some recent messages in a chatroom of the Telegram app used by Islamic State supporters.
In one, a user reported that he was in the heart of Marawi City where he could see the army “run like pigs” and “their filthy blood mix with the dead bodies of their comrades”.
He asked others in the group to pass information on to the Amaq News Agency, a mouthpiece for Islamic State.
Another user replied, using an Arabic word meaning pilgrimage: “Hijrah to the Philippines. Door is opening.”
The clash in Marawi City began with an army raid to capture Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of Abu Sayyaf, a group notorious for piracy and for kidnapping and beheading Westerners.
Abu Sayyaf and a relatively new group called Maute, both of which have pledged allegiance to Islamic State, have fought alongside each other in Marawi City, torching a hospital and a cathedral, and kidnapping a Catholic priest.
The urban battle prompted Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to impose martial law across the whole island of Mindanao, an area roughly the size of South Korea with a population of around 21 million.
FIGHTERS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST
The head of the Malaysian police force’s counter-terrorism division, Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, named four Malaysians who are known to have travelled to Mindanao to join militant groups.
Among them were Mahmud Ahmad, a Malaysian university lecturer who is poised to take over the leadership of Islamic State in the southern Philippines if Hapilon is killed, he said.
Security expert Gunaratna said that Ahmad has played a key role in establishing Islamic State’s platform in the region.
According to his school’s research, eight of 33 militants killed in the first four days of fighting in Marawi City were foreigners.
“This indicates that foreign terrorist fighters form an unusually high component of the IS fighters and emerging IS demography in Southeast Asia,” Gunaratna said.
According to an intelligence brief seen by Reuters, authorities in Jakarta believe 38 Indonesians travelled to the southern Philippines to join Islamic State-affiliated groups and about 22 of them joined the fighting in Marawi City.
However, an Indonesian law-enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the actual number of Indonesians involved in the battle could be more than 40.
Indonesia officials believe some militants might have slipped into Marawi City under the cover of an annual gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat just days before the fighting erupted. The Tablighi Jamaat is a Sunni missionary movement that is non-political and encourages Muslims to become more pure.
An Indonesian anti-terrorism squad source told Reuters that authorities have beefed up surveillance at the northern end of the Kalimantan and Sulawesi regions to stop would-be fighters travelling by sea to the southern Philippines and to prevent an influx of others fleeing the military offensive in Marawi City.
“The distance between Marawi and Indonesian territory is just five hours,” the source said. “It should not get to the point where they are entering our territory and carrying out such (militant) activities.”
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SEOUL – South Korean President Moon Jae-in has ordered a probe after the Defence Ministry failed to inform him that four more launchers for the controversial US THAAD anti-missile system had been brought into the country, his spokesman said on Tuesday.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system battery was initially deployed in March in the southeastern region of Seongju with just two of its maximum load of six launchers to counter a growing North Korean missile threat.
During his successful campaign for the May 9 presidential election, Moon had called for a parliamentary review of the system, whose deployment has also infuriated China, North Korea’s lone major ally.
“President Moon said it was very shocking” to hear the four additional launchers had been installed without being reported to the new government or to the public, presidential spokesman Yoon Young-chan told a media briefing.
Moon had campaigned on a more moderate approach to Pyongyang, calling for engagement even as the reclusive state pursues nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions and threats of more sanctions.
The US military in South Korea did not have immediate comment on Moon’s comments. The South Korean military also did not immediately comment.
CHINA TENSIONS EASING
Moon’s order of a probe into the THAAD launchers came amid signs of easing tensions between major trading partners South Korea and China.
South Korea’s Jeju Air said on Tuesday China has approved a plan to double its flights to the Chinese city of Weihai from June 2.
China has been incensed over the THAAD deployment, fearing it could give the US military the capability of seeing into its own missile systems, and could open the door to a wider deployment of the system, possibly in Japan and elsewhere, military analysts say.
China has denied it had discriminated against South Korean companies, which have faced product boycotts and bans on Chinese tourists visiting South Korea.
A Korean-Chinese joint drama “My Goddess, My Mom” starring South Korean actress Lee Da-hae, whose broadcast had been indefinitely delayed in China, was told by its Chinese partner recently that it will soon be aired, according to JS Pictures, Lee’s agent.
An official at South Korean tour agency Mode Tour told Reuters it hoped China may lift a ban on selling trips to South Korea, which had been in place since March 15, as early as the second week of June.
Although there have been no official orders from the Chinese government to lift the ban, a few Chinese travel agencies have sent inquiries about package tours, he said.
However, Lotte Group has yet to reopen any of the 74 retail stores in China it was forced to close in March after the group allowed South Korea to install the THAAD system on land it owned.
BOMBER DRILL
The United States, which has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, has a mutual defence treaty with Seoul dating back to the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce that has left the peninsula in a technical state of war.
South Korea’s defence ministry said on Tuesday it had conducted a joint drill with a US supersonic B-1B Lancer bomber on Monday. North Korea’s state media had earlier accused the United States of staging “a nuclear bomb dropping drill”.
The North’s KCNA news agency reported on Tuesday leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test of missile equipped with a new precision guidance system and an improved pre-launch automated sequence and a new mobile launch vehicle.
Kim said North Korea would develop more powerful weapons in multiple phases in accordance with its timetable to defend North Korea against the United States.
“He expressed the conviction that it would make a greater leap forward in this spirit to send a bigger ‘gift package’ to the Yankees” in retaliation for American military provocation, KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
With their heads covered with Islamic headscarves, the three members of the Indonesian band VoB (“Voice of Baceprot” or “Noisy Voice”) do not look like your typical heavy metal group.
Formed in 2014, the band of teenagers met at school in Indonesia’s most populous province of West Java, and use their music to combat the stereotype of Muslim women as submissive or voiceless.
Wearing a hijab, or Islamic head scarf, should not be a barrier to the group’s pursuit of its dream of being heavy metal stars, said Firdda Kurnia, 16, who plays guitar and sings.
“I think gender equality should be supported, because I feel I am still exploring my creativity, while at the same time, not diminishing my obligations as a Muslim woman,” she added.
Invited to perform at a recent graduation ceremony at another school, the trio quickly had fans dancing and head-banging at the front of the stage.
“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” said one fan who attended, Teti Putriwulandari Sari. “There’s no law that bars hijab-wearing women from playing hardcore music.
“This also relates to human rights. If a Muslim girl has a talent to play the drums or a guitar, should she not be allowed?”
Besides covering classics by groups such as Metallica and Slipknot, the band perform their own songs on issues such as the state of education in Indonesia.
Muslims make up nearly 90 per cent of a population of 250 million, the vast majority practising a moderate form of Islam, although there are some conservative strongholds.
Not everyone in the town of Garut, where the band was formed, and which is home to several Islamic schools, feels the community is ready for them, or that their music is appropriate for performance by young Muslim women.
“It is unusual to see a group of hijab-wearing girls playing metal music or even women shouting,” said Muhammad Sholeh, a teacher at the town’s Cipari Islamic boarding school, adding that religious pop music was popular with many young Muslims.
“But we’re talking about metal here, which is loud.”
Maudya Mulyawati, a student at the school, felt the band should focus on singing “Salawat”, an invocation to the religion’s founder, Prophet Mohammad.
An official of a top clerical body said although the group might trigger a culture clash in a conservative area, he did not feel it broke with Islamic values.
“I see this as part of the creativity of teenagers,” added Nur Khamim Djuremi, secretary general of the Islamic Art and Culture Division of Indonesia’s Ulema Council.
SINGAPORE: A new locally made brand of milk powder, costing less than S$40 a tin, was launched on Tuesday (May 30), amid public concern over the rising prices of formula milk.
The made-in-Singapore formula, Einmilk, is owned by local company AE Solution and manufactured here by SMC Nutrition.
Separately, supermarket chain FairPrice is exploring ways to bring in more formula milk products, as well as developing its own house-brand milk powder, a spokesman told Channel NewsAsia.
The developments come about a week after the Government formed a taskforce to address the rising prices of formula milk in Singapore.
LEVERAGING THE SINGAPORE BRAND
Einmilk business director Chan Yong Chye said that his company wants to leverage the Singapore brand and produce the item locally, which it hopes can soften price inflation.
He added there are also plans to export the product to other Southeast Asian countries within the next three years.
File photo of Singapore-made milk powder Einmilk. (Photo: Elizabeth Neo)
Einmilk costs between S$19 and S$22 for a 400g tin and between S$33 and S$39 for an 800g tin. There are four formulations for the different stages of a child’s development, including a lactose-free version.
The brand is currently available at U Stars supermarkets.
Mr Chan said that the supermarket chain was chosen because of its accessibility to Singaporeans. “Most of their stores are in the heartland area, where most of our Singapore consumers are residing in. So that puts us in a good position to be close to our customers,” he said.
He added that there are plans to expand sales to more local retailers in the coming months. “We are open for further discussion with all the key retailers. The most important thing is the Singaporean consumer actually buy the idea of a Singapore-made infant milk product. If this idea can be taken by the Singapore consumer, I think eventually we will have more points of sales for our Einmilk products.”
Einmilk is also available online on Shopify and Facebook.
Only its Stage 2 (six to 12 months), Stage 3 (toddlers and children from one year onwards) and lactose-free variants are sold online, because milk formula for infants from zero to six months is not allowed to be sold online under the Sale of Infant Foods Ethics Committee Singapore’s code of ethics.
The company said its products are regulated for adherence to standards by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). It is also halal-certified by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore.
FAIRPRICE MULLS EXPANDING FORMULA OPTIONS, HOUSE-BRAND MILK POWDER
Separately, local supermarket chain FairPrice told Channel NewsAsia that it is exploring ways to bring in more choices of infant milk powder.
The chain said it is in discussions with authorities to expand sourcing options to provide better-value products to parents. “We are actively in contact with several suppliers based overseas and are making good progress, and are in the final stages of bringing in new milk powder products,” a FairPrice spokesperson told Channel NewsAsia.
“At the same time, we are also pursuing the viability of developing our own house-brand milk powder.”
The supermarket chain said it would give more details within the next fortnight.
