Have more hard hitting anti-smoking drives: Expert (Straits Times, 22th March 2012)

S'pore to cut smoking rate to 10% of population by 2020 (AsiaOne News, 22th March 2012)
Singapore has its tough top-down policies to thank for its low smoking prevalence, but the country
can do better by aiming to cut smoking rates to below 10 per cent by 2020.
This was the message of the Health Promotion Board, delivered by Mr Ang Hak Seng, Chief Executive
Officer of HPB a day after the 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH), which saw
Singapore being praised for the success of its anti-smoking measures.
Between 1992 and 2010, Singapore's smoking rate fell from 18.3 per cent to 14.3 per cent.
According to HPB, more than 85 per cent of adults in Singapore are non-smokers.
While this figure is one of the lowest in the world, HPB stressed that along with the few other
countries where smoking rates have dropped to about 15 per cent, bringing the smoking prevalence
down further is getting progressively slower and harder.
To achieve the 2020 goal, Singapore cannot rely on the same old ways of doing things, said Mr Ang.
He added that it is imperative that the nation take things to the next level by complementing the
Government's tough top-down approach with a national ground-up social movement.
This is necessary in order to "de-normalise" smoking and promote a tobacco-free lifestyle as the
social norm, he said.
Mobilising communities
To kick start this, HPB announced that it is tapping on the extensive network of its Health
Ambassadors.
One such initiative is the peer-led Youth Advolution for Health (YAH) Programme, which features
450 of the youngest members of HPB's Health Ambassador Network reaching out to 150,000 youths
annually.
According to HPB research, most youth smokers will ignore or even rebel against anti-smoking
messages if they come from figures of authority.
This is why HPB is working through Health Ambassadors, especially ex-smokers who can relate to the
difficulties in attempting to quit.







Summit to spread anti-tobacco message among youth (AsiaOne News, 16
th
March 2012)
An initiative to create a tobacco-free generation of youth may be rolled out in primary and
secondary schools as early as next year.
It will be part of the "Towards Tobacco-free Millennium Generation" campaign put together by
around 50 individuals, including medical students, school teachers and a professor from the National
Cancer Centre.
It aims to get students born in the year 2000 and later to pledge not to pick up smoking.
There are close to 7,000 smokers here who are between the ages 12 and 13, Associate Professor
Koong Heng Nung, head of oncology at the National Cancer Centre, said yesterday at a media
briefing.
"We are trying to focus on this group, and the dream is to reduce this number to zero," said Prof
Koong, who is the director of the campaign.
The campaign also hopes to create a ripple effect in which the students are motivated to spread the
anti-tobacco message on their own.
To do so, the campaign team has invited more than 350 primary and secondary schools to take part
in a youth summit next week.
The team has not fixed the programme, giving the schools the autonomy to implement their own
initiatives to encourage their students not to use tobacco products.
"We want to keep reinforcing the tobacco-free message to this generation of students," said Ms
Eileen Soon, 22, the co-chairman of the summit and a third-year medical student at the National
University of Singapore's Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
"We hope to empower the students with the right knowledge, instead of using the usual talk-down
approach," she said.









Singapore, a tobacco-free nation? Maybe one day (Today Online, 7
th
March 2012)
The Republic is rolling out further efforts to lower the smoking rate here, with a vision of
"eliminating tobacco from Singapore one day".
Speaking today in Parliament at the Committee of Supply debates, Minister of State for Health Amy
Khor said that while efforts ranging from education to taxes and legislation had brought smoking
rates here down to 15 per cent - "one of the best in the world" - Singapore could not afford to let its
guard down.
"To bring us to the next stage in tobacco control, beyond top-down legislative measures, we will
focus on stronger, ground-up efforts that together, will de-normalise tobacco use and establish
smoke-free living as the social norm," she said. "We will also work with NEA on the long-term goal of
banning smoking in all public places other than designated smoking areas."
Responding to a query from Minister of Parliament Janil Puthucheary, in which he asked if the
Ministry of Health would consider articulating a vision of being a "tobacco-free nation", Ms Khor said:
"We share Dr Janil's vision of eliminating tobacco from Singapore one day, but when that day will
come, we cannot be sure."
To that end, from March next year, the Health Ministry will ban misleading terms on tobacco
product packaging and labelling, and lower cigarette tar and nicotine limits. Graphic Health Warnings
will be replaced with a new set to ensure continued impact.
A Blue Ribbon movement was launched last week to promote smoke-free environments, while the
Health Promotion Board is working with youth networks on a "Live it Up Without Lighting Up"
movement. Some success has been seen, Ms Khor said, with the rates of youths aged 13 to 16 years
old smoking on at least one day in the past month decreasing from 11 per cent in 2000 to 6 per cent
in 2009.











10 markets and food centres awarded for anti-smoking efforts (AsiaOne News, 4
th
march 2012)
The Health Promotion Board (HPB) is awarding the Blue Ribbon to 10 markets and food centres
across the island for their efforts in creating a smoke-free environment.
Although all are allowed to have a smoking corner, these 10 markets and food centres voluntarily
removed their demarcated smoking zones because they believe in the importance of tobacco
control and the prevention of harmful second-hand or third-hand smoke.
They are also convinced that being smoke-free will have little impact on their business.
The award winners include ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre at Jalan Bukit Merah, Adam Raod
Food Centre, Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre, and Kovan Hougang Market & Food Centre.
A symbol of the anti-tobacco movement, particularly the prevention of second-hand smoke, the
Blue Ribbon initiative is part of the larger smoke-free movement that the World Health Organization
(WHO) Western Pacific Region has embarked on.
Recognising that a smoke-free environment effectively minimises public exposure to second-hand
smoke, the WHO is encouraging countries to take on the Blue Ribbon campaign.
With HPB's launch of a local Blue Ribbon initiative, Singapore becomes the first country regionally to
adopt this initiative on a nationwide scale.
HPB will work with more hawker centres and also coffee shops to encourage them to support the
smoke-free movement
Dr Amy Khor, Minister of State for Health said: "While Singapore has one of the lowest smoking
prevalence in the world, recent trends suggest a rise in the prevalence, although the vast majority of
Singaporeans are non-smokers. This is why it is important to 'de-normalise' smoking by creating
voluntary smoke-free environments to send the message that smoke-free living is the default
lifestyle."










Campaign to create Tobacco-Free Generation in S'pore (Channel News Asia, 15
th
March 2012)
SINGAPORE : A group of medical practitioners and researchers in Singapore has embarked on a
campaign to create a Tobacco-Free Generation in Singapore.
It is also the first social movement organised by Singapore's two medical schools - the Yong Loo Lin
School of Medicine and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.
They are targeting those below the age of 12, or those born after January 2000.
It is hoped that this group will be the first tobacco-free generation in the world and be a positive
influence to others.
The goal is to prevent youngsters from even lighting up.
Research has shown that the initiation age of smoking in Singapore is around 12 to 13.
That is despite the sale of cigarettes being only available to those above the age of 18.
The prevalence of smoking amongst young Singaporeans aged 18 to 29 has also seen a 33 per cent
increase from 2004 to 2010.
Head of Surgical Oncology at the National Cancer Centre, Associate Professor Koong Heng Nung, said
his team hopes to reach out to more schools and an international audience as the campaign gains
traction.
He said: "All the current campaigns now are appropriately addressed on current smokers because
It is true that they should stop smoking. We are not against that.
"The difference with ours is that we would like to bring an additional focus, by concentrating on a
gap that has not been addressed, not just in Singapore but throughout the world. And the
movement is meant to not just be in Singapore but to share to the whole world that we need to start
looking at the prevention of tobacco use. So the notion then is to nurture and inculcate this mindset
in the younger generation."
As part of its outreach efforts, medical students will be hold a Youth Summit for upper primary and
lower secondary students in the coming year.
The group has already held four mini-symposiums from August to raise awareness amongst students.
It will introduce its proposals to international delegates at the 15th World Congress on Tobacco or
Health from March 21 to 24, as well as sell collar pins and car decals to raise funds for the movement.




No more "light" and "mild" cigarettes... (Today News, 23th February 2012)
SINGAPORE - From March next year, words like "light', "low-tar" and "mild" will be banned from the
packaging of tobacco products, while a new set of graphic warnings will replace current ones.
Also, the maximum tar and nicotine yield levels in cigarettes will be reduced, and current labels
indicating tar and nicotine yield levels on cigarette packaging will be replaced with new ones that
inform smokers of chemicals other than tar and nicotine in a cigarette.
These are among the changes that will come about following the amendments in 2010 to the
Smoking (Control of Advertisements and Sale of Tobacco) Act.
Explaining the changes, Health Promotion Board (HPB) CEO Ang Hak Seng said: "There is no evidence
that 'light' and 'mild' cigarettes are any less harmful. Yet many smokers, who want to quit the habit
but found it challenging, tend to switch to cigarettes with these descriptors, because they think
these cigarettes are less harmful."
A survey by the HPB in 2009 found that 63 per cent of smokers believed that "light" cigarettes were
less harmful than "regular" cigarettes compared to 28 per cent of smokers who indicated no
difference between the two.
"It is, therefore, imperative that Singapore bans such misleading descriptors. The ban on misleading
labelling will affect about a quarter of the cigarette brands currently sold in Singapore," said the HPB.
The maximum tar and nicotine yield levels in cigarettes will be reduced from 15mg and 1.3mg to
10mg and 1.0mg respectively, with the HPB stressing that these are not "safety" limits and "no level
of toxicity and addictiveness can be deemed to be safe in cigarettes".
The graphic health warnings on individual cigarette packs will also be extended to outer packaging
such as carton packaging.
And cigarillos will have to be sold in packs of 20 instead of the current 10
The HPB said a briefing session was held this morning to communicate the amendments to the
tobacco industry. The tobacco industry has until March next year to implement these changes.








Singapore Seen - How students hide their cigarettes in school (27
th
March 2012)















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