"Singapore to ban emerging tobacco products from mid-December - CNA 15 June 2015
SINGAPORE: From Dec 15 this year, Singapore will ban emerging tobacco products – those which are currently not available in Singapore, and also existing products in the local market, the Ministry of Health announced on Monday (Jun 15).
The ban is a “pre-emptive measure to protect public health against the known and potential harms of such products,” the ministry said in a news release. It added that the ban will be implemented in two phases.
The first phase of the ban will take effect from Dec 15 this year and it will cover products that are currently not available in Singapore. The banned products include:
Some of my smoker friends will be pretty unhappy about these bans. Still, on balance and looking at the bigger picture, it is better this way.
Lessons for me are:
1. prevention is always better than cure;
2. the challenge is: how can one be sure that one is right? Well, the answer is: we can never be 100% sure except to rely on whatever hard scientific evidence we had on harmful substance and ingredients that are banned;
3. as for encroaching on the individual right to consume, in Singapore's context, the liberal Western's approach will, rightly, be rejected. In Singapore, the rational approach is adopted and as long as the costs outweighed the benefits, ban should be imposed. In such situation, it is deemed better to make a few unhappy to save the majority from unintended negative consequence!
March on 'smokeless' crowd!!
SINGAPORE: From Dec 15 this year, Singapore will ban emerging tobacco products – those which are currently not available in Singapore, and also existing products in the local market, the Ministry of Health announced on Monday (Jun 15).
The ban is a “pre-emptive measure to protect public health against the known and potential harms of such products,” the ministry said in a news release. It added that the ban will be implemented in two phases.
The first phase of the ban will take effect from Dec 15 this year and it will cover products that are currently not available in Singapore. The banned products include:
- Smokeless cigars, smokeless cigarillos or smokeless cigarettes
- Dissolvable tobacco or nicotine
- Any product containing nicotine or tobacco that may be used topically for application, by implant or injected into any parts of the body
- Any solution or substance, of which tobacco or nicotine is a constituent, that is intended to be used with an electronic nicotine delivery system or a vaporiser (also referred to as e-cigarettes)
- Nasal snuff
- Oral snuff
- Gutkha, khaini and zarda
Some of my smoker friends will be pretty unhappy about these bans. Still, on balance and looking at the bigger picture, it is better this way.
Lessons for me are:
1. prevention is always better than cure;
2. the challenge is: how can one be sure that one is right? Well, the answer is: we can never be 100% sure except to rely on whatever hard scientific evidence we had on harmful substance and ingredients that are banned;
3. as for encroaching on the individual right to consume, in Singapore's context, the liberal Western's approach will, rightly, be rejected. In Singapore, the rational approach is adopted and as long as the costs outweighed the benefits, ban should be imposed. In such situation, it is deemed better to make a few unhappy to save the majority from unintended negative consequence!
March on 'smokeless' crowd!!
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