The Government will study New Zealand's recent move to implement a cohort smoking ban, to see how it might be applied to Singapore, Senior Minister of State for Health Koh Poh Koon said on Tuesday (Jan 11).

New Zealand announced in December that young people aged 14 and under in 2027 will never be allowed to purchase cigarettes in their lifetime, in a bid to create a smoke-free generation.

Speaking in Parliament, Dr Koh said it is an attractive proposal as it prevents young people from taking up smoking while not putting many restrictions on older smokers.

He was answering parliamentary questions from five Members of Parliament, who had asked if Singapore would follow in New Zealand's footsteps.

“MOH is open to studying such a policy,” Dr Koh said, adding that the ministry will review how New Zealand implements the ban, its effectiveness and how the country's experience could be applied to Singapore.

“But we need to take into account a few considerations," he noted. "First, in Singapore’s case, young people are generally not taking up smoking, unlike the youths in many countries. Youths today no longer see smoking as glamorous and are aware of its harms.”

Dr Koh also noted that even as New Zealand has introduced the cohort smoking ban, it continues to promote vaping as an alternative to smoking, a stance which Singapore disagrees with.

He added that clamping down on vaping among the young in Singapore is the bigger challenge, as e-cigarettes still find their way here despite a ban.

“We will need to do more to enforce the current ban, push against the tide of popularity and increasing use," he said.

"If vaping becomes entrenched amongst the younger generation, it undoes all the progress we made on curbing smoking and will take an enormous effort over future decades to curb its use.”

Dr Koh also pointed out that one of the challenges with implementing New Zealand’s cohort smoking ban is enforcement.

For such a ban to be effective, the Government would need to introduce laws to penalise older persons who are not subject to the ban but may abet offences, such as by supplying tobacco products to younger people.

 “Nevertheless, we remain open to the idea,” said Dr Koh.

In the meantime, he said, MOH will continue to work with the Ministry of Finance to review tobacco taxes, which have been the most effective in reducing smoking prevalence among people here.

He noted that the tobacco tax was last increased in 2018.

“Our tobacco control measures have been successful. It has progressively reduced smoking prevalence rates, from 11.8 per cent in 2017 to 10.1 per cent in 2020,” he said.

“(But) with inflation and income increases, the tax burden gets eroded over time, and we will continue to work with MOF to review the tobacco tax rate.”

Dr Koh noted that various economic studies have come to a consensus that every 10 per cent increase in cigarette prices will result in a 3 to 5 per cent dip in overall tobacco consumption and a 3.5 per cent dip in young people taking up smoking.

 “My ministry will continue to enhance our approach to tobacco control, through public education, provision of smoking cessation services, legislation and taxation," he said.

"We will also study new measures to further reduce access to tobacco products and tackle vaping, particularly among our youths."

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by NABILAH AWANG

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