The minimum legal age for the purchase, use, possession, sale and supply of tobacco products in Singapore will be raised from 18 to 19 from tomorrow, according to a Channel NewsAsia story.
This is part of the Government’s plan to raise the minimum legal age (MLA) to 21 over three years. The measure was passed by Parliament in November as part of the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) (Amendment) Bill.
With this amendment, the MLA will rise to 20 on January 1, 2020, and to 21 a year later.
‘Raising the MLA is part of the Ministry of Health’s ongoing efforts to enhance public health and reduce smoking prevalence in Singapore,’ the Ministry said in a press note issued on Friday.
‘It aims to prevent youth from picking up smoking by limiting access to tobacco products, and to further de-normalize smoking particularly for those below 21.’
Retailers who sell a tobacco product to a person below the MLA will be liable to a fine of up to S$5,000 for a first offence and S$10,000 for subsequent offences.
In addition, their tobacco retail licenses will be suspended for the first offence and revoked for a subsequent offence.
In addition, individuals caught buying or acquiring tobacco for a person below the MLA will be liable to a fine of up to S$2,500 for a first offence and S$5,000 for subsequent offences.
And those caught giving or furnishing tobacco to a person below the MLA will be liable to a fine of up to S$500 for a first offence and S$1,000 for subsequent offences.
Finally, underage individuals who are caught using, buying or having in their possession tobacco products will be liable to a fine of up to S$300.
Category: Regulation
Ageism on the rise
Hookahs side-step law
The smoke that was eradicated from many public establishments in Spain is being reintroduced through hookahs, according to a story in El Pais.
People are allowed to smoke hookahs inside as long as they do not smoke tobacco but nicotine-free alternatives, such as Shiazo.
The legal loophole is being exploited by bars and cafés, some of which surreptitiously also offer tobacco to smoke.
As soon as tobacco was involved, however, it was against the law, said a spokesman for the Civil Guard, which carried out two raids in 2017, in Valencia and Malaga, to combat the practice.
“It is happening all over Spain,” says Carlos Plaja, who took part in the Malaga operation, which saw 124 complaints filed and 91 venues inspected. “They hide the packets [of tobacco] in stools and false ceilings. And when they are inspected, they only show products that are nicotine free and permissible.”
Penalties relating to the anti-tobacco laws are in the hands of the regional authorities. However, most are hazy when it comes to data on hookah use and infringement. The only region with any relevant data is Catalonia, where seven establishments have been fined so far this year.
Meanwhile, Civil Guard sources in Valencia recognize that there are too many establishments involved to police them properly.
The Tobacco Department of the Spanish Family and Community Medicine Society says there is an increasing number of people smoking both cigarettes and pipes in Spain, though data on the use of pipes is scarce. EDADES, the most recent survey on drug consumption carried out by the Health Ministry, failed to include it, recording only that cigarette smoking among young people had risen by 5 percent.
While hookahs can be smoked in indoor public places, given that no tobacco is involved, electronic cigarettes cannot because the law considers them to comprise a tobacco product.
Meanwhile, Seville is hosting an international hookah fair in June. The organizers have chosen Seville because they claim that the Spanish market is one of the biggest in the world. Among the main participants will be companies from the US and Brazil that specialize in tobacco for water pipes.Vaping nicotine legally
The Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association has issued useful guidelines about how tobacco smokers in Australia can become nicotine vapers – legally.
In a note posted on its website, the Association starts by stating that vaping nicotine is a less harmful and less costly alternative for adult smokers who are unable to quit.
Smokers who switched to vaping felt much better, saved money and were exposed to far fewer chemicals than they were when they smoked, it said.
Most of those who switched needed to use e-liquids containing nicotine, at least initially.
And it was legal to vape with nicotine in Australia if smokers followed the rules below:- ‘Obtain a nicotine prescription from your doctor or other medical service.
- ‘Order nicotine liquid from a trustworthy international website or an approved Australian compounding pharmacy
- ‘If importing nicotine liquid, make sure you meet the requirements of the TGA [Therapeutic Goods Administration] Personal Importation Scheme.’
India staying on track
A panel of officials from India’s ministries of finance and health are considering how to implement a track-and-trace system for tobacco products, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter.
The plan is that the system, aimed at curbing the illegal trade in tobacco products, will be aligned with the World Health Organization’s Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
The WHO requires that, within five years of becoming signatories to the Protocol, countries must establish a track-and-trace system.
The story said that India was examining a system adopted by countries including Brazil, Kenya and Turkey.2016 law dusted off
The Gambia’s 2016 National Tobacco Control Act will be implemented from next month, according to a story in The Point quoting an official at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MHSW).
The newspaper reported that concerns had been rising because of the delay in the implementation of the Act, which was passed by the National Assembly and signed into law by former President, Yahya Jammeh.
The Act is meant, in part, to impact the demand and supply of tobacco and tobacco-related products, and incorporate provisions of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
But since the Act became law, little has been done to enforce its provisions.
After passing the Act in 2016, legislators recommended that the MHSW should conduct a three-months nationwide public familiarization campaign so that people would be aware of its provisions. But the campaign stalled because of a political impasse that occurred immediately after the 2016 Presidential elections.
The implementation of the Act was also hit by the campaign’s being inadequately resourced and a change of ministers at the MHSW.
Meanwhile, Omar Badjie, an official with the MHSW, told The Point that his Ministry was working closely with the Ministry of Justice to finalize the ‘commencement order for the full implementation’ of the Act to take place. This process was due to be completed before the end of December.
Badjie said that ‘full implementation of the Act’ would ‘commence across the country’ by January.
He said also that the MHSW and its partners had been conducting a familiarization campaign for the past few months and that the campaign would continue. “Government is fully committed to the implementation of the Tobacco Control Act 2016,” Badjie said.Topical warning
New graphic health warnings are expected to start to appear on cigarette packs in South Korea next month, according to a story in The Korea Times.
They are due to appear also on heat-not-burn products.
The 12 new images are said to show smokers suffering from ailments such as lung cancer, oral cancer, laryngeal cancer, heart attack and stroke, while carrying warnings about everything from tooth discoloration to premature death.
South Korea first required graphic warnings on tobacco products in 2016 – warnings that take up at least 30 percent of the top of both of the main faces of cigarette packs.
The warnings are supposed to be changed every two years.
The smoking rate among South Korean men aged 19 and older was 20.3 percent in 2018, down from 20.8 percent in 2016, according to government data.
Separate data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) put the smoking rate of South Korean men aged 15 and older at 31 percent in 2015, the highest among 15 OECD countries surveyed. Japan came in second with 30 percent, followed by Italy with 25 percent.Listening out for smoking
Malaysia’s Health Ministry has urged members of the public to act as its ‘eyes and ears’ when its tobacco-smoking ban at all restaurants and eateries is enforced nationwide from January 1.
Deputy Health Minister Dr. Lee Boon Chye said the public could lodge their complaints directly to the ministry via its telephone hotline.
“During this enforcement period, it’s important that this is not done just by the ministry but also with the co-operation of the public,” Lee was quoted as saying.
“The government is widening the scope of non-smoking zones not just to bring down the numbers of smokers but to also protect the rights of those who do not smoke so that they will not be exposed to second-hand smoke …,” he said.
Lee said the Ministry’s enforcement drive during the first six months would focus on educating the public and restaurant owners to make them aware of the ban.
However, he added, this did not mean that smokers should regard the ban lightly.
“After six months, there will be patrols to check on the smoking ban and the public can call the ministry hotline if they see people breaking the law,” he said.
Asked if the 5,000-strong enforcement team was enough to enforce the ban, Lee said the ministry would strategize the deployment of its officers nationwide.
He said stern enforcement would be enforced after six months via regular patrols and with the help of the public.
Although the law is described as banning smoking, restaurant operators can designate smoking zones within their premises, though they must be built three meters away from dining area.Vaping is not smoking
There are no national regulations governing the use of electronic cigarettes in China, though increasing numbers of smokers are turning to these devices, according to a Xinhua News Agency story quoting a China Daily report.
The Beijing Tobacco Control Association has reportedly received a growing number of reports and complaints about e-cigarettes being used in public places.
But existing control regulations in the capital city cover only the use in public places of traditional, combustible tobacco products. So while law enforcement officers can impose fines on those who smoke combustible cigarettes in public places, they are powerless to act against those who use e-cigarettes.
Yang Jie, a researcher at the Tobacco Control Office of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, was quoted as saying that e-cigarettes were not considered to be either drugs or electronic products, which created a dilemma in respect of effective supervision.
The China Daily report quoted a World Health Organization official in China as saying there was a risk of unintended health consequences from exposure to electronic nicotine delivery systems, due to the high nicotine concentration in the e-liquids of some of them.
And it reported Zhang Jianshu, president of the Association, as saying that his Association believed that many e-cigarettes were harmful to smokers and others, and that it would promote the inclusion of such devices in tobacco control law enforcement.Vaping is not smoking
Packaging for tobacco sticks used with the heat-not-burn (HNB) device IQOS does not have to include graphic health warnings in Malaysia because such sticks do not come under the legal classification of a cigarette, according to a story in The Sun Daily quoting the Ministry of Health (MoH).
The MoH said the exemption from the ruling on pictorial warnings stemmed from the fact that the Heets tobacco sticks, while comprising a tobacco product, emitted vapor instead of smoke.
Questioned by the Sun Daily, the MoH said it had not approved any studies on the health consequences of using HNB devices, but that the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) had agreed to investigate these health effects.
Meanwhile, because the tobacco sticks are not classified as cigarettes, they can be sold at a lower price, RM14, than that of combustible cigarettes, RM17.40.
The Sun Daily said that HNBs had been allowed to be marketed in Malaysia without prior research to verify claims by tobacco companies that they were a safer alternative to cigarettes.
It said that questions about the grounds on which HNBs were allowed to be marketed in Malaysia were not answered by the MoH.Industry wrong on pricing
The introduction of standardized cigarette packaging in the UK led to an increase in the sale price of leading brands, according to a story in the Guardian citing new research.
A study by Stirling University found that the price of top-selling cigarettes increased by almost five percent during the 18 months after the legislation was introduced. The price of hand-rolling tobacco rose also, by about eight percent.
Stirling is one of 13 universities that forms the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, a Centre for Public Health Excellence funded by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration.
Researchers said their findings were at odds with tobacco companies’ predictions that standardized packaging, which became mandatory in May last year, would lead to lower prices and greater affordability.
“Tobacco companies were strongly opposed to plain packaging,” Dr. Nathan Critchlow, of Stirling’s institute for social marketing, was quoted as saying. “They appeared adamant that, if the policy was implemented, brands would only be able to compete on price, which would result in lower prices, greater affordability and, consequently, increased consumption.
“Our study, however, provides early evidence that these concerns of lower prices appear to be unfounded. We found that, as well as the sale prices, recommended retail prices also increased. This suggests that tobacco companies instigated the price rises – and that their predictions of falling prices and rising affordability were intended to deter the government from implementing the policy.”
The Guardian reported that the team analysed electronic point of sale data from 500 small retailers in Scotland, England and Wales during the 12-month transition period and then for six months after the legislation became mandatory.
The average price per cigarette and price per gram – both adjusted for inflation – were examined for 20 of the leading fully-branded tobacco products and their standardized equivalents.
The study was funded by the Cancer Policy Research Centre at Cancer Research UK and was published in the international journal Addiction.
