SINGAPORE
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has been seeking public feedback on the standardized packaging of tobacco products, including increasing the size of graphic health warnings by 25%, in a six-week consultation exercise from February 5 – March 16, 2018.
The ministry said tobacco use continues to be a significant public health concern and that in recent years, the decline in smoking rates has slowed and become harder to sustain. It went on to say that smoking rates fluctuated between 12% and 14% over the past 10 years with “no clear pattern of continuous decline”.
If the standardized packaging proposal is adopted, the ministry says, it will form part of Singapore’s strategy towards becoming a tobacco-free society.
Key elements of the proposal include regulating the promotional aspects of tobacco packaging, standardizing tobacco packaging elements such as trademarks, logos, color schemes, and imagery, and increasing the size of graphic health warnings on the packaging from 50% to 75%.