the NEA or national environment agency launched an island wide consultation exercise last month to gather feedback on widening the smoking ban.

currently, smoking is banned in the majority of indoor locations in our tiny red dot nation, which includes shopping malls, cinemas, swimming pools, basement carparks, night spots, and bus stops.

the nea is considering extending non-smoking areas to include public places like common corridors, staircase landings in hdb blocks, parks and park connectors, beaches, smoking corners in entertainment outlets, hawker centres and food establishments.

although the smoking population here is in the minority, the nea has caught an increasing number of smokers breaking the law. in the first 10 months of 2011, it issued 4,462 tickets but for the whole of 2010, the number was just 4,646.

my comments:

i confess i have been a smoker myself and therefore, the habit can be highly addictive. i particapted in ......