All tobacco-product packs sold in Singapore might soon have to carry graphic health warnings enlarged to cover 75 percent of the packaging, according to a Today story.
Currently, graphic health warnings cover 50 percent of the packaging.
In a press statement issued yesterday, the Ministry of Health said it would be conducting a public consultation on its Standardized Packaging Proposal from February 5 to March 16.
In its statement, the ministry said Singapore’s smoking rate had fallen from 23 percent to 19 percent between 1977 and 1984, and then to 12.6 percent in 2004.
But it said the rate of decline had slowed in recent years.
‘The smoking rates have been fluctuating between 12 percent and 14 percent in the last 10 years, with no clear pattern of continuous decline,” said the ministry.
‘A particular concern is the fact that there remains a sizable proportion of men (more than 1 in 5) who smoke daily.’
The ministry said that it is the government’s preliminary assessment that the implementation of the Standardized Packaging Proposal would, with other existing and future tobacco control measures, ‘constitute a significant step towards Singapore becoming a tobacco-free society’.
Members of the public may contribute their views and feedback on the Standardized Packaging Proposal by email at tobacco_control@moh.gov.sg or by post.
The public consultation paper can be found on REACH at www.reach.gov.sg and on ministry’s website at www.moh.gov.sg/proposed-tobacco-control-measures.
Graphic pack proposal
