By Rita Zahara, Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE : In a bold attempt to fight cancer in Asia, nine
National Cancer Centres in Asia - including Singapore, China,
Japan, Korea and Bangladesh - have signed a landmark
agreement.
They will work with their respective governments to ban
tobacco.
And Singapore is determined to take the lead in this formidable
task.
It may look like a next to impossible task, but the plan is to ban
tobacco products from its growth and manufacture, all the way to
the import, export and sale of such products.
With Singapore's success in banning chewing gum, the National
Cancer Centres in Asia are looking to Singapore to take the lead in
proposing a ban on tobacco products in 10 years.
Singapore's National Cancer Centre is in talks with the Health
Ministry and wants to work in partnership with the community.
This includes working with the Health Promotion Board to offer
alternatives to current smokers, such as nicotine patches.
It will also partner the Education Ministry to roll out
educational-outreach programmes, targeting young
Singaporeans.
This is on top of existing efforts like increasing the cost of
cigarettes and designating more public places as smoke-free
zones.
Professor Soo Khee Chee, Director of National Cancer Centre in
Singapore, said: "I'm sure the cost-saving from not having to treat
tobacco-related illnesses will more than counterbalance the impact
of the economy from the tobacco industry.
"The infringement of individual rights, my read on it is that
tobacco in some ways does a lot more harm than other things which
we have banned... the community has to decide to balance individual
rights versus public good."
Even though tobacco usage in Singapore is one of the lowest in the
world - some 13 percent - 90 percent of lung cancer in Singapore is
related to tobacco use.
And it costs Singapore some $600 million to $800 million a year to
treat tobacco-related illnesses..
Lung cancer claims nearly three Singaporeans daily.
The death toll is the highest compared to any other cancer,
including breast and colon cancers.
And research has shown, tobacco is the most important preventable
cause of lung cancer.
Up to 500 million people in the next 50 years will potentially die
of tobacco-related illnesses.
This is despite smokers being 20 times more likely to develop lung
cancer than non-smokers.
Second-hand smokers are not entirely spared - they make up 29
percent of lung cancer patients. - CNA/de
