News

Progressively raise legal age for smoking

The article, “

The article, “ ” (Dec 21), proposes that cigarettes be made unavailable for birth cohorts beyond 2010, creating a tobacco-free generation. The current minimum legal age for smoking is 21; those born in 2000 could start smoking legally only in 2021. If we were to ban cigarettes for those born after 2010, we would have nine more birth cohorts that could legally smoke when they reach the age of 21. With more than 30,000 births per year, we are subjecting more than 270,000 young adults to a “coming of age” temptation. What if we were to raise the minimum legal age this year to 22 and progressively continued this all the way till 2030? There is strong evidence that if someone does not pick up smoking by the age of 25, the “coming of age” temptation wanes rapidly. We would have effectively brought forward the tobacco-free generation by 10 years. New Zealand and Malaysia are looking into tobacco-free generation laws, but have not banned vaping. Singapore banned vaping in 2018 as it causes nicotine addiction and can be a gateway to smoking. With a progressive increase in minimum legal age, Singapore could achieve a nicotine-free generation from 2002. This would be a huge boost to its Healthier SG initiative, as focusing efforts on young adults will yield great health and economic dividends. It would be a great legacy for current policymakers to leave behind.