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HPB considers raising legal age for smoking

SINGAPORE — Raising the legal age for smoking — currently 18 — is among the various measures the Health Promotion Board (HPB) is studying to reduce the prevalance of smoking here.

SINGAPORE — Raising the legal age for smoking — currently 18 — is among the various measures the Health Promotion Board (HPB) is studying to reduce the prevalance of smoking here.

The use of standardised cigarette packaging — practised in Australia — is also being studied.

Although there has been greater success in helping smokers kick the habit, the authorities aim to bring the smoking rate to under 10 per cent by 2020; the current 14.3 per cent is already one of the lowest in the world.

Last Sunday, New York City raised the minimum age for buying cigarettes from 18 to 21 as part of its initiative to encourage a healthier lifestyle.

Acknowledging that countries with an older legal smoking age did not necessarily have a lower ratio of smokers, Ms Vasuki Utravathy, HPB deputy director of substance abuse, said: “So we are studying what’s happening in New York, finding out if there is any way we can replicate the measure in Singapore as well.”

At a media tour of Singapore’s tobacco control efforts — ahead of World No Tobacco Day on May 31 — the HPB said its third run of the national anti-smoking campaign last year had reaped better results. Of the 3,400 participants in its I Quit campaign, 14 per cent stubbed out for six months, up from 10 per cent of about 1,500 participants in 2011. Its helpline also received more calls — from about 5,900 in 2012 to more than 14,500 last year.

Ms Vasuki attributed the improvement to the growing momentum of the campaign and the effectiveness of having former smokers front the effort.

The proposal to raise the legal smoking age was mooted nearly a year ago by non-profit organisation Sata CommHealth, which said increasing it to 21 would deter young men from lighting up during National Service.

In June last year, the HPB also launched a public consultation exercise on whether to ban the display of cigarettes for sale as part of efforts to discourage smoking.

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