A New Taipei City-based psychiatrist said recent panic purchases of toilet paper is “herd behavior,” adding that excessive feelings of insecurity can lead to hoarding.
Retailers in Taiwan, including hypermarkets, on Feb. 24 said that toilet paper suppliers told them that product prices would increase by between 10 and 30 percent from the middle of this month due to a spike in pulp prices in the international market.
The announcement triggered panic buying of toilet paper by consumers.
Psychiatrist Yang Tsung-tsai (楊聰財) said that when news about a potential price increase is released, a “leader” engages in stockpiling behavior.
Fearing losses if they do not do the same, others follow, Yang said, adding that people might not think about their realistic needs.
With the rise of social media, this type of phenomenon might be more obvious and spread more easily, he said.
When herd behavior reaches a certain point, groups of people emerge who are looking out for themselves rather than the social unit, Yang said.
These people are likely to take toilet paper home from restaurants, public bathrooms and other places because they are greedy and opportunistic, he said, adding that in more serious cases, a hoarding disorder can develop.
Perhaps due to emotional issues, an inability to think clearly or feelings of insecurity, people who hoard must engage in the behavior to feel mentally stable, he said.
Yang said he once treated an elderly man who had developed a hoarding habit because he was constantly worried that he would not have enough everyday supplies.
He had more than a lifetime’s supply of toilet paper, shampoo and underwear, Yang said.
People must think independently and behave rationally when it comes to consumption, he said, adding that people should evaluate what is the best purchasing behavior for themselves rather than blindly following others.
If a person’s hoarding has started to affect their normal functioning in everyday life, they should seek professional help and treatment, he added.
Premier William Lai (賴清德) on Tuesday said there is no need for concern about domestic toilet paper supplies and urged the public not to stockpile toilet paper.
Additional reporting by Cheng Hung-ta
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods