* My column in BusinessWorld last February 13.
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“How to make the fitting adjustment between individual
independence and social control is a subject on which nearly everything remains
to be done… To an ordinary man, however, his own preference… is not only a
perfectly satisfactory reason, but the only one he generally has for any of his
notions of morality, taste, or propriety…”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859), Ch. 1 Introduction
As of Feb. 11, the novel coronavirus — now called
COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO) — has 44,000+ cases and killed
1,100+ people in China alone. The number of infected and dead people is rising
every day and there is no existing proven treatment or vaccine. The nearest
vaccine/s would be 12 to 18 months away because there are many processes and
clinical trials needed before a new medicine or vaccine can be officially
declared as safe and effective.
I checked the website of Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the biggest association of innovator pharma
and biotech companies and research institutes in the world, for drugs that are
undergoing various clinical trials and research, on top of existing proven
medicines (see Table 1).
This should be the result of many years of virtue
signalling by the WHO and various Ministry or Department of Health of many
countries that the main problem in the world now are non-communicable diseases
(NCDs), not infectious diseases like COVID-19. Now we see how unprepared these
global and national health authorities are when the real killer diseases come.
And still the WHO and country governments continue with
more regulations of products and lifestyles to “protect people from
themselves,” the evolving role of a nanny state. Target products are alcohol,
tobacco, electronic cigarettes, sugar, and salt/sodium. Despite the fact that
anywhere in the world, people are living longer and healthier even if they have
rising consumption of alcohol, tobacco, sugar/fatty food and drinks.
I checked the narrative that “more alcohol and tobacco =
more sickness and deaths,” the numbers show that it does not hold water. For
instance, China and Indonesia have higher smoking prevalence (SP) than the
Philippines yet they have higher life expectancy than us. The US, UK, and Japan
have higher SP than Thailand yet they have longer life expectancy than the
latter (see Table 2).
In Congress, I saw a bill on “Non-Combustible Nicotine
Delivery Systems Regulation Act of 2019” and I was surprised at the huge number
of new regulations, restrictions, and prohibitions for e-cigarettes or
electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), electronic non-nicotine (ENNDS),
heated tobacco products (HTPs) as if these are the normal tobacco, alcohol,
prohibited drugs.
For example there are outright bans and prohibitions for
those ENDS/HTPs: banning their sale within 500 meters from any perimeter of a
school or playground; banning advertisement, promotion, and sponsorship;
banning use in schools/universities, hospitals, government offices and
facilities; banning users who are below 21 years old.
Then there are allowed but highly restricted acts: online
trade, advertisements in retailer establishments, flavorings, designated vaping
areas (DVAs), product requirements, etc.
Just recently, Congress raised the tax on those products
along with regular tobacco and alcohol products. Meaning government wants more
tax money from them to fund its universal healthcare (UHC) and related
programs, yet government wants less use and sale of these products. Which is
which?
On raising the minimum age for vaping or smoking to 21,
this is more double talk. At the age of 18, the government currently believes
that people are mature enough to vote and determine political leadership at
local and national levels, they can drive vehicles and are mature enough not to
cause injuries or deaths on the road, they can get married, and so on. Then
government changes the rules because people below 21 are still immature and
need to be protected from themselves.
More bans, restrictions, and taxation only encourage more
corruption and smuggling. The result is more drinking, smoking, vaping, and
drugs because the smuggled products are cheaper. JS Mill has warned of the
dangers of more social control — government must heed this.
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