Singapore has the largest menthol tobacco market in the world. Half of the cigarettes sold here are flavoured with menthol.
In her research of leaked internal tobacco industry documents, Dr Yvette van der Eijk, Senior Research Fellow, found that, in Singapore, tobacco companies used menthol cigarettes to target teenagers. She believes that a ban on tobacco flavours could help to reduce the smoking rates among Singaporean youth.
Other territories like Canada, Brazil, Turkey, the European Union and parts of the United States are now banning tobacco flavours. Research so far shows that this discourages youth from smoking and encourages quitting among those who already smoke.
Dr van der Eijk counters three common arguments that have been used in other countries, namely that a ban on tobacco flavours will put retailers out of business, cause illicit cigarette trade, and that it infringes on people’s right to smoke.
Media coverage:
- Ban on flavoured cigarettes could curb youth smoking in Singapore, TODAY Commentary, 3 July 2019
- Singapore Today, CNA938, 4 July 2019