POISONS (AMENDMENT) BILL

3.48 pm

Order for Second Reading read.

The Acting Minister for Health (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The Poisons (Amendment) Bill aims to amend certain provisions of the Poisons Act (Chapter 234) so as to bring it up to date and to rectify the inadequacies in the present Act. The control of poisons is effected under the Poisons Act by inspectors from the Ministry of Health. All poisons imported into the country have to be declared at the point of entry. Only authorized persons are allowed to deal in poisons. Unauthorized possession for sale of poisons is illegal. Offenders, when convicted, are liable to a fine of up to a maximum of $5,000 or to imprisonment up to a maximum of two years, or both.

The Poisons Act does not differentiate between the control of industrial and agricultural poisons from medicinal poisons. The control of industrial and agricultural poisons was originally carried out with the help of the Public Health Division which was then part of the Ministry of Health. In late 1971, the Public Health Division was incorporated as part of the Ministry of the Environment. The result of this move was that applications for licences for industrial and agricultural poisons received by the Ministry of Health had to be referred to the Ministry of the Environment for processing. The Ministry of the Environment then advises the Ministry of Health of its decisions, which then issues the licences. The reason for this cumbersome practice is the lack of a provision in the existing Act for the delegation of this licensing function to other public officers. The proposed amendment Bill seeks to rectify this anomaly.

Another limitation of the Poisons Act is in the penalties presently prescribed. The present penalties are inadequate for the gravity of the offences that are being committed. It is therefore proposed to increase the maximum fines from $5,000 to $10,000 with the same jail term of a maximum of two years.

Over the past two years, the Ministry's Inspectorate conducted 271 raids on shops suspected of illegal sale of poisons. Ninety-one premises were found to be selling poisons illegally, of which nine were repeat offenders. The poisons found in these premises included antibiotics and steroids which are illegally sold to the public without any doctor's prescription or are used to adulterate traditional medicines. An example is penicillin and tetracycline which are sold under the counter to the public to prevent or to treat sexually transmitted diseases. Because of this, resistance to antibiotics is becoming a significant problem in the treatment of veneral diseases in Singapore today.

Another example is the use of the antibiotic, chloramphenicol, which is illegally added to traditional medicines for the treatment of simple fevers which normally would not require anything more than, for example, a Panadol or an Aspirin. This particular antibiotic is known to occasionally produce very harmful effects on the blood and bone marrow which could be fatal. As a result of such unsupervised consumption, the patient's life is unnecessarily endangered.

The illegal sale of steroids by some shops to treat asthma, skin diseases and rheumatic or joint pains is also very common. Whilst the person is temporarily relieved of the symptoms, the prolonged and indiscriminate use of steroids has harmful effects on the body. This unlawful use in the end could be more serious to the patient than his simple aches and pains.

Sir, I will now take you through some of the key clauses in the Bill.

Clause 2 empowers the Director of Medical Services to authorize any public officer to issue licences for the purposes of this Act. This will allow the delegation to officers of the Ministry of the Environment the authority to issue licences in respect of industrial and agricultural poisons.

Clause 3 empowers a licensing officer to issue licences for any of the purposes of the Act. Presently, there are four different types of licences specified in the Poisons Act. These four licences and classifications have caused much confusion to the public. With the proposed amendment, there will only be two licences, one to import, store and sell poisons by wholesale, and the second licence to import, store and sell poisons by retail.

The period of validity of the licences to be prescribed by rules made under the Act will be extended to beyond the one year period currently prescribed.

Clause 7 amends section 17(1) of the Act by increasing the maximum fine for offences under the Act from $5,000 to $10,000. As explained to Members earlier, the present fine is inadequate in view of the gravity of the offences.

Clause 8 amends section 20 of the Act by increasing the maximum fine for selling poisons to persons under 18 years of age from $500 to $1,000. The existing maximum fine of $500 was set in 1938 when the Act was first enacted. Members will appreciate that doubling the maximum fine to $1,000 will only slightly compensate for the inflation which has taken place over the last 50 years.

Under the existing Act, there is no flexibility to prescribe lower penalties for minor technical offences such as improper labelling of poisons or inadequate record keeping. Clause 9 is an addition to the Act which empowers the Minister to prescribe lower penalties for such minor technical offences.

Sir, with the passing of this Bill, the Poisons Act will be brought up to date and the inadequacies rectified. The increase in the maximum penalties will serve as a greater deterrent against the illegal sale of poisons and to ensure better compliance to the Act.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

Mr Chew Heng Ching (Kaki Bukit): Sir, I rise to speak on the Bill on behalf of the GPC for Environment and Health. The GPC is of the opinion that the amendments are necessary and indeed could have been made earlier. But this was not possible because the Ministry of the Environment was not ready then to take over the issue of licences and permits for hazardous substances. It is clear from what the Minister has just said that the amendments are made with three objectives in mind:

(a) to delegate authority to the Ministry of the Environment for the issue of licences for hazardous industrial chemicals;

(b) to simplify existing licensing procedures; and

(c) to impose harsher penalties for those who commit offences under the Act.

Sir, attempts at simplifying the existing licensing procedures are laudable. They reflect the Government's continuing emphasis to reduce red-tape and to provide greater flexibility to the private sector businessmen. Whilst the GPC appreciates the need for the Ministry of Health to streamline licensing procedures and delegate authority to the Ministry of the Environment for the issue of licences and permits for hazardous industrial substances, we think that problems and confusion may arise in practice with two Ministries administering the Act. The public may not know which Ministry to go to obtain a licence or a permit for a particular substance or to launch a complaint against a particular licensee. Under the Bill, the Director of Medical Services will be responsible for maintaining a master register of all licensees which includes licensees of hazardous industrial chemicals. Should not the maintenance of a master register on such licensees be left to the Ministry of the Environment?

Sir, these are some of the examples to show the confusion in the implementation of the Act if administered separately by two Ministries. There is therefore a great need for the two Ministries to coordinate closely in the implementation of the Act.

Sir, hazardous industrial chemicals and medicinal poisons are two different types of chemicals. In practice, the import, transport, storage, use and disposal of industrial chemicals and medicinal poisons are different. The GPC is therefore of the view that it will be necessary in the longer term for the Poisons Act to be replaced by two new Acts such as (a) the Medicinal Poisons and Drugs Act and (b) the Hazardous Industrial Substances Act, with the legislation and administration of the Medicinal Poisons and Drugs Act under the Ministry of Health while that of the Hazardous Industrial Substances Act under the Ministry of the Environment. This will go a long way to avoid confusion and ensure more efficient administration of the laws governing medicinal poisons and hazardous industrial substances.

Sir, the amendment to increase the maximum penalty from $500 to $1,000 for those who commit offences under the Act is, to serve as a strong deterrent to illegal practices, particularly to those caught selling poisons without a licence or in unlicensed premises. It appears from what the Minister has said that the problem of infringement of the Act - of illegal import and sale of poisons - is indeed a serious one. Doubling the fine in this instance may not be enough. The GPC urges the Ministry to step up enforcement actions against these offenders.

Related to this problem is the concern expressed by some that drugs banned in developed countries are still being imported and sold in developing countries. Sir, I would like to ask the Minister what measures the Ministry of Health is taking to ensure that this does not happen in Singapore.

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I agree with the Member for Kaki Bukit that the present arrangement is still not the ideal arrangement, and I would like to inform him that the Ministry of the Environment is looking into ways of improving it, including the possibility of enacting a separate legislation that would enable the Ministry to properly control the import, sale, storage, and transportation of hazardous substances.

I also agree with the Member that increasing the penalties will not by itself lead to the curtailment of those illegal activities that some shops are engaging in. I wish to assure him that the Ministry will continue to take strong enforcement actions to ensure that those shops that are continuing to sell such drugs illegally can be detected and brought to justice.

Sir, with regard to drugs that have been banned elsewhere, the Ministry receives regular notification from the World Health Organization on drugs that have been banned from sale elsewhere. When informed by the World Health Organization, the Ministry's Inspectorate will then do a check on whether those drugs are on sale in Singapore and, if they are, order their removal.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Yeo Cheow Tong].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.