HEALTH HARMS OF SECOND-HAND SMOKE AND SMOKING REGULATION

NOTICE PAPER NO. 805

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 05 MAY 2026

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Shawn Loh

MP for Jalan Besar GRC

Question No. 2087

To ask the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry will conduct a study on the negative health impact of sustained exposure to second-hand smoke from neighbouring HDB units particularly on children and the elderly; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider issuing official guidelines on such negative health impact to inform future policies on regulating smoking out of windows in HDB flats.

Answer

1        The health harms of second-hand smoke (SHS) are well-established in the scientific literature, where sustained exposure has been associated with health conditions such as respiratory illness, cardiovascular diseases, and cancers such as breast and lung cancer. The health effects of prolonged exposure to second-hand smoke was previously addressed in the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) answer to Oral Question Number 12 during the Parliamentary sitting on 2 October 2018.

2        There are currently no plans to issue official guidelines on the negative health impact of SHS. Nonetheless, MOH has been working closely with the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) to address smoking-related public health concerns. MSE and NEA have progressively prohibited smoking at more than 49,000 public places including most common areas of residential buildings, such as common corridors and void decks, to reduce the public’s exposure to SHS.