Singapore to Seek Ban on Tobacco Displays in Shops

Source from:  Wall Street Journal 03/13/2013

Worried that more citizens are lighting up, the Singapore government is proposing to ban shops from displaying tobacco-related products.

The plan, announced Tuesday by Health Minister Gan Kim Yong, joins a steady slew of smoking curbs imposed in the Southeast Asian city-state over recent years, and comes amid signs that more here are picking up the habit.

"An effective way of discouraging individuals from smoking, or picking up smoking, is through a ban on point-of-sale display," Mr. Gan said during a parliamentary debate on Singapore's budget for the fiscal year starting April 1.

"Customers will have to ask for tobacco products specifically. Vendors can store these products in areas that are not visible to the public, such as in closed drawers," Mr. Gan said, adding that authorities will seek public feedback on the plan in coming months.

But Philip Morris International spokeswoman Julie Soderlund called such point-of-sale display bans "ineffective and unnecessary."

Soderlund added, "Where implemented, display bans have not reduced smoking prevalence, but have limited competition, imposed significant costs and other burdens on retailers, and fostered the black market for tobacco products."
While smoking prevalence in Singapore is low compared to some other developed nations, more Singaporeans—especially young adults—are smoking than before. Currently, about 14.3% of Singaporeans smoke, but the proportion of smokers among those aged 18-29 has risen to 16.3% in 2010 from 12.3% in 2004, Mr. Gan told lawmakers.

Singapore first imposed curbs on smoking in 1970, when lawmakers passed laws that banned smoking in cinemas and proscribed tobacco advertising on most forms of media. Since then, policy makers have steadily expanded smoking ban to more public spaces to include the likes of swimming pools and food centers. Even night spots like bars and clubs weren't spared, although proprietors can set up designated smoking areas.

Physicians and anti-tobacco activists cheered Singapore's latest move, calling it a "small step in the right direction," even though smoking curbs here still fall short of more drastic steps taken by other countries such as Australia, which imposed tough new rules on tobacco packaging last year.

Tuesday's proposal is "very good news for Singapore" and dovetails with the city-state's obligations to discourage smoking under the World Health Organization's convention on tobacco control, said Joy Alampay, a spokeswoman for the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance.

But some smokers are skeptical about the effectiveness of the plan.

"If they're just going to hide the cigarettes, I don't think it makes much of a difference," said Jasmine Wee, an information technology consultant in her thirties who smokes regularly. "Even for teenagers, there are ways and means to get cigarettes if they want to." Enditem