smoking The government first introduced laws restricting smoking in public places and prohibiting cigarette advertisements with the Smoking Act of 1970. Under this act, smoking was banned in cinemas and on buses. The ban was later extended to apply to all government buildings, sports facilities, public transport, schools, hospitals, shopping centres, convention halls, underground pedestrian walkways and public queues, as well as offices, factories and restaurants. Since July 2006, smoking has only been permitted in designated areas in hawker centres and coffee shops. Plans have also been announced to restrict smoking to particular sections within pubs and karaoke lounges from July 2007.

In 1986, the Ministry of Health launched the National Smoking Control Programme (NSCP) with the slogan ‘Towards a Nation of Non- Smokers’. The aims of the NSCP are to reduce the prevalence of smoking in Singapore by discouraging young people from taking it up; educating, motivating and assisting smokers to give it up; promoting environments in which non- smokers are not subject to ‘second- hand smoke’; and establishing non- smoking as a social norm. The programme includes public education, legislation, taxation of tobacco products and the provision of services to assist people to stop smoking.

The Committee on Smoking Control (CSC) was formed in 1996 to review the NSCP and recommend new directions for the programme. The objectives of the CSC are to increase community involvement and support for the NSCP, and to turn the promotion of a smoke- free environment into a civic movement. In 2001, the Health Promotion Board was formed to oversee and coordinate health promotion programmes, including the NSCP.

The NSCP has had some impact. For instance, between 1980 and 2000, there was a 28 per cent reduction in the incidence of lung cancer in males and 25 per cent in females. Yet there has also been an increase in the rate of smoking in females aged 18– 24, from 2.8 per cent in 1992 to 8.2 per cent in 2001. Moreover, a survey conducted in 2000 found that one in ten secondary school students smoked at least one day a month, and that one in four students had tried smoking— 20.5 per cent having done so before the age of ten.

Photo credit: Sin Kam Cheong