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Singapore Relaxes Chewing Gum Ban

Posted on by blam

Singapore relaxes chewing gum ban

Chewing gum will no longer be a criminal offence in Singapore - but it will only be sold on prescription.

Chief negotiator Tommy Koh said that the 10-year ban is being relaxed as part of the free trade deal with the US.

Sugarless gum prescribed by doctors and dentists as having therapeutic and medicinal benefits will be sold in pharmacies.

Singapore outlawed the import, manufacture and sale of chewing gum in 1992, arguing that discarded lumps of gum were hard to clean from its tidy streets and that it stuck in train doors.

Some locals have welcomed the relaxation of the ban, but say the latest compromise wouldn't go far enough.

"It's a small step towards a good change," said 37-year-old Toru Umatani, a fund manager and a smoker. "I think this country is a little strict."

Salesman Rajat Gupta, 22, said it was "ridiculous" that chewing gum would be available by prescription only.

Story filed: 08:34 Wednesday 20th November 2002



TOPICS:

News/Current Events

KEYWORDS:

chewing

gum

singapore





To: blam

I HATE people who chew gum. Having said that, what a stupid law that is.



To: blam

That's it. I am done. I will never go back to Singapore again as long as I live. The damn liberals have taken over.



To: Jeff Gordon

You're not going to go back to Singapore because you can't chew gum? How about if you just take a can of snuff with you?



To: riley1992

You're not going to go back to Singapore because you can't chew gum? I am not going back because they now allow people to chew gum. The liberals are taking control of Singapore. Before you know it, kids who spray paint cars will be sent to see a shrink rather than a cane master.



To: blam

Oh, great. Now the streets will be full of indigent gum-chewers, lolling around enjoying their filthy habit instead of working and breaking into people's houses and stealing television sets to support it. Do these people realize the number of heroin addicts who started with chewing gum?



To: Jeff Gordon

Yeah, I know what you mean. Spit out gum, the cane. Spraypaint a car, the cane. Break a window, the cane. "Bill, you don't come down here for the vandalism, do you?"



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