卫生部：青少年吸食电子烟的不断增加，通过社交媒体禁烟

The Tobacco (Control of and Sale) Act, or the Tobacco Act, also prohibits of e-vaporisers. As we all know, like all domestic laws, the Tobacco Act applies to vaping-related content published in Singapore and by Singapore-connected persons or entities. However, the Internet and social media is a global ecosystem and having domestic laws that ban harmful content or does not mean that these materials would not come in from a foreign source or a foreign influencer. That is the nature of online enforcement today.

But we are not without agency and we have put in place several measures. For example, firstly, social media and e-commerce platforms are aware that under the Tobacco Act, they are expected to exercise due diligence and proactively remove vaping-related content that target Singapore residents. Enforcement actions may be taken against platforms that are found with inadequate processes to detect and remove vaping-related contents. The Ministry of Health (MOH) and Health Sciences Authority (HSA) will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to engage these platforms.

Secondly, under the Code of Practice for Online Safety, the IMDA designated social media services with significant reach or impact to minimise users' exposure to harmful content. The designated social media services are Facebook, HardwareZone, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube.

Thirdly, HSA has been monitoring illicit sales of e-vaporisers via social media, e-commerce and messaging platforms, and carrying out operations to remove e-vaporiser content. HSA is trying to expand its efforts and is reviewing the legal penalties to strengthen the deterrence against advertising, importation and distribution of e-vaporisers.

Fourthly, even as we remove e-vaporisers content, we also try to increase pro-health content. The Health Promotion Board (HPB) also launched a vape-free campaign in 2023, including using social media, targeting youths and younger adults.

Mr Speaker: Mr Zhulkarnain.

Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim (Chua Chu Kang): Thank you, Speaker. And I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the answer. I think most of my supplementary questions have been answered, but just one more. I spoke about this in Parliament in one of my speeches in the Committee of Supply. There is a strong link between vaping and cannabis abuse. In Canada, 29% of cannabis-using individuals aged 15 years or older indicated that vaping is their preferred method for cannabis use. Will MOH conduct a study on this link and risks in terms of the usage of vaping and drug abuse?