The Singapore authorities are looking at restricting the sale of flavoured tobacco products, such as menthol cigarettes, and raising the minimum legal age for buying and using tobacco from 18 to 21.

These proposals will be part of a public consultation from Dec. 29, 2015 to March 29, 2016.

The authorities will be seeking views on a suite of tobacco control measures that Singapore could potentially introduce.

The Health Promotion Board (HPB) will be launching the consultation together with the Ministry of Health and the Health Sciences Authority.

HPB said in a statement issued on Tuesday, Dec. 29, that those who do not start smoking before the age of 21 are unlikely to ever begin, according to a 2008 report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Other measures intended to discourage Singaporeans from picking up smoking, and encourage smokers to kick the habit, include:

Reducing appeal of all tobacco products by putting them in unattractive packaging, also known as "plain packaging", without any promotional information such as logos.

And increasing the size of graphic health warnings to cover more than 50 percent of tobacco packaging, as well as replacing the images on such warnings every two to three years to increase its effectiveness.

H/T The Straits Times

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.