Stubbed Out: MOH to ban all smokeless tobacco, nicotine patches and vaporisers

​Smokers in Singapore just can’t get a break. The Ministry of Health (MOH) are pretty adamant in making sure that smokers stick to only the traditional method of vice — they’ll be slamming down the ban hammer on emerging tobacco products such as smokeless cigarettes, nicotine patches and e-cigarettes. 

They’re officially instituting the prohibition of any tobacco products other than the usual cigarettes as a”pre-emptive measure to protect public health against the known and potential harms of such products”. Though if they’re so hard-up about “protecting public health”, it’s puzzling why they don’t just go all out and ban all tobacco products. 

Their ban will be implemented in two phases, with the first kicking in from Dec 15 onwards and the next one taking effect from Aug 1 next year. The first phase will see products such as dissolvable tobacco/nicotine, smokeless cigars/cigarillos/cigarettes and vaporisers being banned — as if it’s even possible to purchase them here. The second one will see nasal snuff, oral snuff and chewing tobaccos such as Gutkha, khaini and zarda. 

Photo: Sudipto Sarkar via Flickr



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