BANNING OF TEENAGERS FROM SMOKING

Mr Imram bin Mohamed asked the Minister for Health how successful has the ban from smoking for the under eighteen-year-old been in curtailing young teenagers from taking up the habit and whether enforcement measures taken have been adequate.

The Minister of State for Health (Dr Aline K. Wong)(for the Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, Sir, to implement the ban on smoking for the under-18 year olds, the Ministry of Health has set up the Smoking Control Unit. Since June 1993, the Ministry of Health Inspectors have made a total of 10,007 random checks on cigarette retail outlets. To date, 25 retail outlets have been fined for not displaying the required notice of prohibition of sale of cigarettes. Another 18 retail outlets have been fined for illegal sale of tobacco to persons under 18 years old. In addition, a total of 1,795 underaged youths were caught smoking. Of these, 5% were repeat offenders.

It is still too early to tell whether the measures implemented have been successful in curtailing young teenagers from taking up the smoking habit. Apart from enforcement actions, we place great emphasis on health education in the schools on the harmful effects of smoking. Our anti-smoking campaign also concentrates on young smokers as a special target group.