Lee Hsien Yang called for the Singaporean government to lift its e-cigarette ban, but to no avail. Photo credit: Lee Hsien Yang official profile, Facebook
Lee Hsien Yang, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong’s estranged younger brother and youngest son of Lee Kuan Yew, called for the Singaporean government to lift its ban on e-cigarettes.
The Independent Singapore reported that following a vape crackdown in early December, Lee Hsien Yang, a member of the Progress Singapore Party, said on his Facebook on December 8, “Singapore should lift the ban e-cigarettes. The benefits that would accrue from regulated use of e-cigarettes outweigh the potential risks involved.”
“The evidence that vaping is far less harmful than smoking cigarettes is well documented and accepted. It is far better to regulate vaping and impose safety standards. We should permit vaping for people trying to quit smoking. To dogmatically retain the existing regulations is simply bad public policy.”
A week later he posted a screenshot of a UK webpage supporting his view. “I am not an expert,” he said. “Experts in the UK have found based on international evidence, that while vaping is not risk free, “in the short to medium term, vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking.”
The government, however, continued its crackdown efforts on vaping. In late December, 177 individuals were arrested at Changi Airport after being discovered possessing e-cigarettes. The country’s Health Sciences Authority and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority will continue to conduct operations at land and sea checkpoints in the coming months. Inspections will be conducted not only at border checkpoints but also in various locations, including the central business district, shopping centers, parks, smoking areas, as well as public entertainment venues like bars and clubs.
According to CNA, deputy prime minister and finance minister Lawrence Wong said Singapore’s vape ban was to protect the country’s population from the harms of e-cigarettes and “the potential loss in tobacco tax revenue from the reduced consumption of tobacco products was not a factor in this decision.” Wong’s statements were in response to questions filed by MP James Lim asking if the potential loss of tax revenue was a factor for the vape ban.
Wong went on to say that the government would encounter similar challenges to those currently encountered for cigarettes and other tobacco products if it were to legalize and tax e-cigarettes.
“In any case, the government has no plans to change our current approach, as our priority is to protect the health of our population and prevent e-cigarettes from causing harm to our people, especially younger Singaporeans,” he said.