Bill tabled to raise legal smoking age in Singapore from 18 to 21
Bill comes follows a WHO report suggesting that those who don’t start smoking before 21 won’t pick up the habit
Six months after signalling its intention to raise legal smoking age in Singapore from 18 to 21, the Government put it in motion, tabling a bill to change rules, which it had said will be phased in over a few years.
With a World Health Organisation report citing that those who do not start smoking before 21 are unlikely to do pick up the habit, Singapore has been mulling over raising the legal age for the last few years.
The commitment came during the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Committee of Supply debate this year, when Senior Minister of State Amy Khor said Singapore will join places such as New York City and California in raising the legal age for smoking from 18 to 21.
In an explanatory statement accompanying the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) (Amendment) Bill tabled by Health Minister Gan Kim Yong, the move was said to be aimed at “(reducing), with a view to ultimately eliminating, the opportunities for the young to be tempted and take up smoking before attaining 21 years of age”.
Youths above 18 who are already smokers will not be affected by the change, the MOH had said.
The prevalence of smoking in Singapore has improved over the years — from 18.3 per cent in 1992 to 13.3 per cent in 2013 — but stagnated in recent years. Smoking rates among young men are still high, while the smoking rates of young women are creeping up.