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Ministry of Health
Speeches

Speech by Mr Amrin Amin, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Health, at the Student Engagement Session Held in Conjunction with World No Tobacco Day, at Health Sciences Authority, 30 May 2018

31 May 2018

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1.       I am very happy to join you today at this student engagement session held in conjunction with World No Tobacco Day.

2.      The day is observed around the world every year on 31 May, to highlight the dangers of tobacco and smoking, and how we and our families can move towards a tobacco-free society.

Burden of Smoking

3.      Among all of you sitting here – how many of you know of someone in your family who smokes? Or a friend?

4.      Do you know that smoking is the second-highest contributor to the burden of disease among Singaporeans? It causes heart attacks, stroke, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. About six Singaporeans die every day from tobacco use[1].

5.      Smoking is estimated to cost Singapore at least S$600 million[2] a year in direct healthcare costs and lost productivity. This is equivalent to the total spending of more than 10,000 households a year[3], covering food, transport, even holidays and all your school fees!

6.      We have seen students your age who come in for counselling because they are smoking and they know they need help to quit. Some of them told the counsellors that they smoke to cope with loneliness and stress. 

Helping Youths Stay Tobacco-Free

7.      To encourage our youths to stay tobacco-free, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) adopts a range of strategies including raising awareness of the harms of smoking, and the resources available for quitting. In school, you might have seen or even participated in skits during assembly or in workshops teaching us how to resist friends who offer us a cigarette. 

8.      Young smokers can also seek support to quit smoking from HPB’s Student Health Advisors, smoking cessation programmes and Quit-line. Last year, we reached out to about 70,000 youths through our prevention and cessation efforts. 

9.      To reduce smoking in Singapore, we constantly review our tobacco control measures, for example:

  • To reduce exposure to cigarettes and other tobacco products, retailers have been required since August last year to keep all tobacco products away from public display;

  • To help delay when youth start to smoke, we are increasing the minimum legal age to 21 years old;

  • We are also gradually expanding the list of smoke-free places, so there will be fewer places where we can be exposed to harmful second-hand smoke.

10.     While these efforts have reduced the smoking rate from over 18 per cent in the 1990s to 12 per cent in 2017, we must continue to strengthen our efforts so that the smoking rate does not creep back up again, and goes below 10 per cent by 2020.

11.     To further encourage Singaporeans to live a tobacco-free lifestyle, we will launch a new youth campaign in the second half of this year. It will highlight how a tobacco-free lifestyle is the lifestyle of choice. We recognise that real stories of real people are the most inspiring, and we will involve youths in schools and institutes of higher learning in reaching out to friends on social media, in schools and in social settings.

Conclusion

12.     Today, you have a unique opportunity to learn from the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) about harmful chemicals found in cigarettes, enter the Cigarette Testing Laboratory and observe how cigarettes are tested. I encourage you to ask any questions you may have so that you can share about what you have learnt with your friends and family. You can also impart your knowledge to more by joining HPB’s “Youths of Tomorrow” competition, and you may even take home the top prize of $1,200.

13.     You have the ability to be change the lives of your family members and friends who are smokers, for the better. Help them find reasons to quit the habit and stay tobacco-free. I look forward to spending a meaningful time with all of you today.

Thank you.

[1] Based on figures from the Singapore Burden of Disease Comparative Risk Assessment 2010 study, and Registry of Births and Deaths 2016 report, it is estimated that there were some 2,073 deaths in 2016 due to smoking-related diseases.

[2] Based on Cher BP, Chen C, Yoong J. Prevalence-based, disease-specific estimate of the social cost of smoking in Singapore. BMJ Open. 2017; 8:e014377; using the 2014 conversion rate of US$1 = SG$1.25. Reported estimate for 2014 was US$479.8 million

[3] Based on the Household Expenditure Survey 2012/2013.  Singaporean households spend an average of $4,725 per month.