Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Secondhand Smoke Drifting into Public Area by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment

Written Reply by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, to Parliamentary Question on Secondhand Smoke Drifting into Public Area

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) to date, whether any action has been brought under section 43 of the Environmental Public Health Act in respect of cases of secondhand smoke drifting from a person's home into a public corridor or public area; and (b) if not, why not.

Answer:

1 There have been no cases where action was taken under Section 43 of the Environmental Public Health Act (EPHA) for second-hand smoke drifting from homes to public corridors or public areas.

2 As explained in this House previously, Section 43 of the EPHA comes under Part 5, which was enacted in the 1960s to provide for quick mitigative actions to arrest public nuisances from specific industrial activities. It is not the EPHA's purpose to deal with smoking prohibition.