Tag: SIngapore

  • Singapore Studying New Zealand’s Tobacco Plan

    Singapore Studying New Zealand’s Tobacco Plan

    Photo: Stockbym

    Singapore’s health authorities are debating whether to follow in the footsteps of New Zealand by gradually raising the smoking age until it covers the entire population, reports The Straits Times.

    On Jan. 8, New Zealand unveiled a plan to phase out smoking through price hikes, nicotine limits and increasing age restrictions, among other measures.

    On Jan. 11, Minister of State for Health Koh Poh Koon told Parliament he would look at how New Zealand’s experience could be applicable in Singapore.

    Singapore is unlikely to copy New Zealand’s embrace of vaping as an alternative to smoking, however. “If vaping becomes entrenched among the younger generation, it undoes all the progress we made on curbing smoking, and will take an enormous effort over many years to curb its use,” said Koh.

    While e-cigarettes are banned in the city state, they are readily available through e-commerce, according to Koh.

    Smoking prevalence in Singapore fell from 11.8 percent in 2017 to 10.1 percent in 2020. The city state introduced standardized packaging and enhanced graphic health warnings in 2020 and raised the minimum legal age for smoking from 19 years to 21 years in January 2021.

    As a result of such measures, smoking among adults aged 18 to 29 decreased from 9.8 percent in 2017 to 8.8 percent in 2020, according to Koh

    Smoking and second-hand smoke exposure accounted for about $180 million of healthcare costs in Singapore in 2019, he noted.

  • Singapore Enacts Plain Packaging Law

    Singapore Enacts Plain Packaging Law

    Photo: PixaBay

    Cigarette manufacturers operating in Singapore will be required to sell their products in standardized packaging starting July 1, reports The Straits Times.

    The new rule, which also mandates enlarged graphic health warnings, will apply to all tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, bidis and roll-your-own tobacco products, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).

    Announced on Oct 31, 2018, the measures are intended to encourage smokers to quit and discourage nonsmokers from picking up the habit.

    As part of the new regulations, tobacco companies will have to remove from their product packaging all logos, colors, images and promotional information.

    The graphic health warnings must cover at least 75 percent of surfaces, up from the current 50 percent.

    Non-compliance is punishable with a fine of up to SGD10,000 ($7,171), jail of up to six months, or both, for first-time offenders.

    Those with a prior qualifying conviction will face heavier penalties.

    The government of Singapore had given tobacco manufacturers, importers, wholesalers and retailers a year to prepare for the new measures.

    The Health Sciences Authority also sent letters and e-mails to remind tobacco licensees of the new packaging regulations.

  • Ageism on the rise

    Ageism on the rise

    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.

  • Future looks plain

    Future looks plain

    Singapore is planning to impose plain – standardized – packaging on all tobacco products, according to a Channel NewsAsia story citing an announcement by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
    The MOH said the proposed measures would apply to all tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, bidis, ang hoon (loose tobacco leaves) and other roll-your-own tobacco products.
    The ministry intends to table the necessary amendments to current laws early next year.
    If enacted, the new measures are expected to take effect from 2020.
    A transition period, starting when manufacturers must begin producing standardized packs and ending when retailers must be selling only products in standardized packs, will be provided to allow a sell-through of old stock and to ease the implementation burden on the tobacco industry, the MOH said.
    ‘Tobacco use is a major cause of ill-health and death in Singapore,’ the MOH said in a press note.
    ‘More than 2,000 Singaporeans die prematurely from smoking-related diseases annually.
    ‘Daily smoking prevalence amongst Singaporeans has been fluctuating since 2004, with no clear pattern of sustained decline.’
    Under the proposal, all logos, all colors but one, brand images and promotional information would be removed from the tobacco-product packs.
    Packs would have to use a standard color in a matt finish.
    Brand names and product names would be allowed, but only in a standard color and font.
    ‘Tobacco products must also display mandatory graphic health warning covering at least 75 percent of the packet’s surface, up from the current 50 percent,’ the NewsAsia story reported.
    Much of this was foreshadowed earlier this year when the MOH 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 one in 5) who smoke daily.’
    The ministry said that it was 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’.

  • Quit program lacking

    Quit program lacking

    More than 20,000 people signed up for a 28-day, quit-tobacco-smoking program run by Singapore’s Health Promotion Board (HPB) last year, but only about 10 percent stayed away from cigarettes for the duration of the program, according to a story in The Straits Times.
    “It’s not as high as we’d like, but internationally it compares quite well,” said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Home Affairs Amrin Amin.
    He was giving updates on the HPB’s I Quit 28-Day Countdown program, which was said to have given smokers the knowledge and motivation to give up their habit, while at the same time launching a new campaign to raise awareness about smoking’s downsides.
    Earlier this year, the government announced it aimed to reduce the number of smokers to under 10 percent of the population by 2020. Last year the smoking rate was 12 percent.
    Getting people to give up smoking was not a one-off effort, and various factors played a part in getting people to quit, said Amrin. The government would study ways to strengthen the process over the next year or so.
    According to a study conducted by the HPB last year, the top three factors that would motivate smokers to quit were health, family and finances.
    Singapore is one of a number of countries that have banned the sale of all vaping products.

  • Retail licenses suspended

    Retail licenses suspended

    Six Singaporean tobacco retailers that sold cigarettes to people under the age of 18 have had their licenses for selling tobacco products suspended for six months, according to a story in The Straits Times quoting a statement by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).
    The HSA said the six had not asked for identification to check the buyers’ ages.
    It said the staff involved had said they were too busy to ask for identification or that the minors had looked older than their ages.
    Sellers, the HSA said, took the risk of contravening the law if they assessed age by physical appearance alone.
    It said that tobacco retailers were responsible for all sales of tobacco products taking place at their outlets.
    Retailers will have a job on their hands training staff for the future. The minimum legal age to use, possess or buy tobacco products will be raised to 19 next year. And it will be increased to 20 in 2020, and 21 from 2021.
    Under current laws, anyone convicted of selling tobacco products to a person under 18 can be fined up to S$5,000 for a first offence. Repeat offenders face a fine of up to S$10,000.
    In addition, a seller’s tobacco retail license is liable to be suspended for six months for a first offence and revoked for a second offence.
    However, if buyers are minors dressed in school uniform or below 12 years old, the outlet’s retail license is liable to be revoked for a first offence.
    Since 2015, the HSA has suspended 79 retail licenses and revoked 11 others.

  • Big brother is watching

    Big brother is watching

    Smoking in non-smoking areas without getting caught is about to get a lot harder in Singapore, according to a story in The Straits Times.
    The National Environmental Agency (NEA) intends to deploy surveillance cameras around the island with high definition thermal sensors to help detect smoking in prohibited areas. The cameras will be aimed also at capturing what the story described as ‘other unhygienic acts’ such as spitting and littering.
    Singapore prohibits smoking in an estimated 32,000 premises and locations, such as entertainment outlets, shopping malls, office premises, hospitals, schools, cinemas, bus-stops, covered walkways, lift lobbies, stairwells and entrances to buildings.
    Cameras deployed in areas where smoking is prevalent but barred will record images of the person as well as the date and time.
    The tamper-proof thermal cameras, which can detect a person holding a lighted cigarette during the day or night, will be placed discreetly on rooftops, in common corridors and staircases of residential buildings, multi-storey carparks and other locations.
    But the thermal cameras will focus only on the common corridors, lift lobbies or staircase landings where smoking is prohibited.
    NEA said it would be mindful of the privacy of members of the public, though it is aiming to deploy 140 cameras a year.
    The NEA said there were strict protocols governing the viewing of the footage from cameras and that only authorized NEA staff and the vendor would be authorized to handle and view the video footage, and then only for official purposes.
    The NEA issued about 22,000 tickets last year to people smoking in prohibited areas, up from 19,000 in 2016, but this rise was only to be expected given the exponential rise in the number of places where people cannot smoke.
    People caught smoking in prohibited areas are liable to fines of S$200-S$1,000 if convicted in court.
    Members of the public can report infringements via the NEA website or MyENV app.

  • Licenses suspended

    Licenses suspended

    In Singapore, the tobacco licenses of 10 retailers have been suspended for six months after they were caught selling cigarettes to customers under 18 years of age, according to a Channel NewsAsia story quoting a Health Sciences Authority (HSA) press note.
    ‘These 10 sellers did not ask for any identification to check the buyers’ age[s],’ the note said. ‘They had claimed that they were busy or that the minors looked older than they were.’
    Under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act, any business caught selling tobacco products to those under the age of 18 faces a fine of up to S$5,000 for the first offence and up to S$10,000 for the second or subsequent offences.
    In addition, the business’ tobacco retail license will be suspended for six months for the first offence and revoked for a second offence. Retailers found selling tobacco products to minors in school uniform or to those below 12 years of age have their tobacco retail licenses revoked at the first offence.
    From 2015 to date, 68 tobacco retail licenses have been suspended and 10 have been revoked, HSA said.

  • Singapore sting

    Singapore sting

    Cigarettes have become more expensive in Singapore following a 10 per cent increase in excise duty on all tobacco products, but experts are divided on whether this will reduce the number of smokers, according to a story in The Straits Times.
    The story gave no details of what experts were saying, but it did mention that tobacco excise was last raised in 2014, also by 10 percent.
    The latest increase in tobacco taxes was announced by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat during his Budget speech on Monday.
    Prices of popular cigarette brands were set to increase by at least S$1 on Thursday, though some retailers raised them prior to Thursday.
    According to a circular sent to retailers on Tuesday by tobacco company Philip Morris Singapore, which was seen by the Times, the price of a pack of 20 Marlboro White cigarettes was set to rise from S$13.00 to S$14.10, while the price of a pack of Sampoerna A Menthol cigarettes was set to increase from S$12.30 to S$13.80.
    The Tobacco Network Traders sent out a recommended price list to retailers, increasing the price of rolling tobacco such as Butterfly Yellow by more than S$1 to S$12.
    It was not stated whether these increases were down only to the tax rise or whether manufacturers were taking the opportunity of raising their prices.
    The tax on a typical pack of 20 cigarettes is now about 60 percent, before goods and services tax, the Ministry of Finance said in response to queries from the Times.

  • Singapore taxes up

    Singapore taxes up

    The Singapore government has imposed a 10 percent increase on tobacco excise duty, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said during his Budget speech yesterday.
    According to a story by Monica Kotwani for Channel NewsAsia, Heng said the higher excise duty would be implemented across all tobacco products with immediate effect – from February 19.
    The Singapore Customs’ website indicates that cigars, cheroots and cigarillos were taxed at S$388 per kilo; so this will have increased to S$427 from yesterday.
    The excise duties on cigarettes containing tobacco and cigarettes with tobacco substitutes has increased to almost 43 cents per gram.
    Kotwani quoted the World Health Organization as saying that a 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes resulted in a four percent decrease in demand in high-income countries, and about a five percent decrease in demand in low- and middle-income countries.