| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Singapore unbans chewing gum |
| 2004-03-20 |
| OK. OK. Before anyone gets too excited - it’s only nicotine gum for smokers trying to quit. Singapore is set to partially lift its famous ban on chewing gum this week, but those yearning to blow bubbles or freshen their breath will have to settle for a chewy nicotine substitute. Starting Thursday, the tightly controlled city-state will allow the sale of Nicorette -- a nicotine gum for smokers trying to quit. The government last year agreed to relax its 12-year ban on chewing gum to allow the sale of brands that health authorities consider "therapeutic" as part of a free-trade agreement with the United States that took effect Jan. 1. Pfizer, the company that makes Nicorette, will send senior executives to Singapore to officially launch the gum, the company said in a statement. Squeaky-clean Singapore outlawed the import, manufacture and sale of chewing gum in 1992 because of complaints that spent wads were fouling the city-state’s tidy pavements, buildings, buses and subway trains. But gum became a sticking point in free-trade talks with Washington when Rep. Philip Crane of Illinois pressed for Singapore to lift the ban on all gum. Crane represents Chicago, the home of chewing gum giant Wrigley. Singapore resisted, agreeing only to allow sales of "therapeutic" gum in pharmacies. Critics of Singapore’s strict laws on media, behavior and politics have often cited the chewing gum ban as an example of the government’s legal excesses. |
| Posted by:Zhang Fei |
| #21 Singapore will remain forever ignorant of whether chewing loses it's flavor on the bedpost overnight. Never mind Singaporeans - I've never tried that before. I'll see if my better half will put up with that. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-3-20 7:20:02 PM |
| #20 AntiW please put down the posited book/s and walk into town, speak in a civilized manner to your fellow citizens and have a decent cup of coffee/tea. You will feel much younger. You will seem less the Odd Duck with every trip. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-3-20 4:34:38 PM |
| #19 Antigum--So enlighten me here. Fighting a war is never justifiable, in your opinion, because people can get killed? Is nothing in your little world worth fighting for, worth defending with your life? Is leaving Saddam in power so he can continue to tyrannize, torture, rape, and murder thousands of Iraqis preferable to risking even one life? As long as you're not directly affected, is it okay for people to be imprisoned, shocked, beaten, and shot out of hand by a brutal regime while you go shopping for new shoes, laugh over wine and dinner with your friends, go for a scenic drive in the country, and dance with your beau at a nightclub? What if you weren't so lucky and privileged to have been born in a Western nation? How would *you* feel about your family being imprisoned and tortured because a jealous neighbor claimed you uttered an anti-Saddam slur? How would you feel while watching your sister being raped by guards and watching your father being beaten before your eyes knowing that the West has such vast military power and capability to liberate you but won't lift a finger because they value their own lives more than yours? Yeah, I know: whatEVER. You reserve your outrage for the gum chewers who dare make your life inconvenient. |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-3-20 4:10:06 PM |
| #18 Maybe sugar-filled gum was ruining the prostitutes' teeth. Singapore will remain forever ignorant of whether chewing loses it's flavor on the bedpost overnight. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-3-20 4:07:13 PM |
| #17 I've heard, strangely enough, that prostitution is legal there. Prostitution and brothels are legal in Singapore. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-3-20 3:55:54 PM |
| #16 I am actually reading a biography of Marie Antoinette. Your mentor with respect to political science? Is it a harlequin edition. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-3-20 3:24:46 PM |
| #15 The point of my previous comment is that pointing to numbers of dead people won't sway anyone. The question is always the context in which they were killed. Saddam invaded two countries in a region with 2/3 of the world's oil supply and had the oil resources to rebuild his military to pose yet another threat. The campaign in Iraq was to Desert Storm, what WWII was to WWI - the resolution of a longstanding problem. Germany got to rebuild its military before starting WWII - Iraq never got its chance, and the world is better for it. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-3-20 2:09:27 PM |
| #14 Antiwar: Dar think about the thousands of people killed by your hero(sarcasm)Bush. Actually, I prefer to think about the millions killed by my heroes Truman and Roosevelt - 500,000 Japanese civilians and 2 million German civilians, in addition to millions of German, Italian and Japanese troops. Bush needs a higher body count before he can move up in the pantheon of heroes. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-3-20 2:04:29 PM |
| #13 Dar think about the thousands of people killed by your hero(sarcasm)Bush. Bullshit, I think your more cow poo than cow. Well I'm leaving to read my book and no it's not Fox in Sox it's Saddam:Iraq's Most Illustrious Leader.(Ha Ha only joking that book doesnt actually exist I made it up)hope no one has wee'd themselves. I am actually reading a biography of Marie Antoinette. |
| Posted by: Antiwar 2004-3-20 1:55:55 PM |
| #12 Super Hose: In Singapore is it legal to use any of the following mouth related products - snuff, floss, whale blubber, jerky, Altoids, lollypops, khat, throat Lozenges or Ricolah? Why are cigarette butts OK to fling while gum chewing is evil? What is the policy on open-mouthed kissing? I believe Singapore imposes big fines for spitting and littering as well. Articles in the NY papers (during Michael Fay's vandalism trial) mentioned fines in the hundreds of US dollars per incident. As to open-mouthed kissing, I doubt it - I've heard, strangely enough, that prostitution is legal there. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-3-20 1:37:56 PM |
| #11 "Antigum" from now on. Oh, Anti, there's only one bovine round here, and it ain't me, Daisy. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2004-3-20 1:37:02 PM |
| #10 So is that how you really feel, Anti? Who cares if hundreds of thousands of those little brown people in Iraq were tortured and murdered by Saddam. But woe to the selfish m*****f***** who dare inconvenience you by tossing gum on the sidewalk! |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-3-20 1:22:28 PM |
| #9 Flatulence, burping, coughing, spitting and chewing are better controlled by social stigma, encouragement of manners and hygiene education than by ordinances. That said, I do not run my hands under the tables of McDonalds. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-3-20 12:59:30 PM |
| #8 Let me see if I understand this. If I walk and chew gum in Singapore, (which would test my limited coordination) will I be subject to seizure of my gum for lab testing to see whether it is Nicoret? Will the field testing method be for the peace officer to take a chomp on my ABC gum to try an identify the flavor. In Singapore is it legal to use any of the following mouth related products - snuff, floss, whale blubber, jerky, Altoids, lollypops, khat, throat Lozenges or Ricolah? Why are cigarette butts OK to fling while gum chewing is evil? What is the policy on open-mouthed kissing? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-3-20 12:55:04 PM |
| #7 Bulldog I think you have your frilly knickers in a bit of a twist. Are YOU perchance someone who chews gum like a bovine chewing cud and then proceeds to spit it out wherever you may be? Next time wrap it in a piece of paper(like the wrapper it came in)and put it in the bin. |
| Posted by: Antiwar 2004-3-20 12:49:13 PM |
| #6 In Antiwar's world, terrorists like the IRA 'bother' people; those who chew gum and drop it on the pavement are 'selfish motherfuckers'. Priorities? whatEVER |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2004-3-20 12:34:56 PM |
| #5 gum chewers - why do they hate us? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-3-20 12:21:12 PM |
| #4 Yes, but when you accost the gum chewers about disposing of it properly, they just roll their eyes and say, "whatEVER". |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-3-20 11:40:47 AM |
| #3 Never thought I'd say this but I actually agree with you. The selfish motherfuckers just spit it out anywhere for people TO WALK IN IT!!! |
| Posted by: Antiwar 2004-3-20 10:43:26 AM |
| #2 I can see why they'd do this sort of thing. Instead of flinging gum into the bushes or other shrubbery, people seemingly just spit it out anywhere. I see smashed gum spots on sidewalks ALL OVER. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-3-20 1:29:31 AM |
| #1 Chewing gum is a bane. I'm not advocating death to chewers. Not quite. But an arm perhaps. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-3-20 12:26:49 AM |