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SINGAPORE: Singapore has been a tough place for a smoker to live in.

Smokers cannot seem to catch a break, particularly with the suggestion to ban smoking near home balconies and windows by Nee Soon GRC Member of Parliament and Group Parliament Committee for Sustainability and Environment Louis Ng in October reviving a national debate about how far the country should go to combat smoking completely.

Make smokers close their windows when they smoke, some suggested. 

Ban smoking altogether, a few frustrated netizens said.

In October 2018, Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) had announced that it would be introducing standardised packaging for tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, beedies [...] and other roll-your-own tobacco products, as part of ongoing efforts to reduce local smoking rates. The measure has finally gone into effect, and besides plain packaging, meaning that all logos, colours, images and promotional information on the packaging of tobacco products should be removed, it includes a clause requiring graphic health warnings that cover at least 75% of the packet.

Singaporean smokers enrolling in newly launched smoking cessation pilot programmes, will be entitled to full subsidies for nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) in order to help them quit smoking. [...] The programme aims to reach approximately 10,000 smokers, and interested parties would benefit from intensive behavioural support, follow-up for up to a year and a three-month NRT supply. The success rate via such smoking cessation programmes is believed to range from 10 to 20 per cent. [...] Dr Daniel Fung, said that there are various methods to quit smoking, with the NRT being the most common method.

SINGAPORE: New restrictions on cigarette packaging will be introduced in Singapore, after amendments to the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Bill were passed in Parliament on Monday (Feb 11).

All tobacco products will be have to be sold in plain packaging - in a standardised colour and with all logos, brand images and promotional information removed. Brand names and product names will be allowed, but only in a standard colour and font style.

All tobacco products in Singapore may soon be required to be sold in plain packaging with graphic health warnings covering at least 75 per cent of the packet.

This comes after the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Wednesday (Oct 31) that it will introduce standardised packaging for such products sold in Singapore, as part of ongoing efforts for a tobacco-free society. The proposed measures will apply to all tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, beedies [...]

First, they took away shisha tobacco and hookahs, citing a need to reduce the public’s tobacco consumption. Now, the authorities are not sparing the “healthier” alternative to tobacco cigarettes either. A total ban on electronic cigarettes, which was passed in November last year, will come into effect in the next few months. Vaping has in recent years been regarded as a successful way to quit smoking. [...]