Here's a bit of background on Singapore's chewing gum laws (as I recall the details - apologies for any inaccuracy, it's been a while!)
1. The laws were instituted because of the hassle that chewing gum creates in keeping the city-state as clean as it is. The actual catalyst for it becoming law, as I understand it, was about a decade ago, when schoolchildren stuck chewing gum on the doors of an MRT (subway) train - the doors couldn't close properly and so the train was disabled. This had a knock-on effect of shutting down a good portion of the MRT network.
2. The laws have been relaxed somewhat since the US-Singapore free trade deal. Wrigley's chewing gum will now be sold (possibly by prescription) for medicinal purposes. Wrigley's have some very influential friends in Illinois politics and they pressured the Singaporeans to give this concession during the free trade talks. Chewing gum is still not really freely available in Singapore, though.
1. The laws were instituted because of the hassle that chewing gum creates in keeping the city-state as clean as it is. The actual catalyst for it becoming law, as I understand it, was about a decade ago, when schoolchildren stuck chewing gum on the doors of an MRT (subway) train - the doors couldn't close properly and so the train was disabled. This had a knock-on effect of shutting down a good portion of the MRT network.
2. The laws have been relaxed somewhat since the US-Singapore free trade deal. Wrigley's chewing gum will now be sold (possibly by prescription) for medicinal purposes. Wrigley's have some very influential friends in Illinois politics and they pressured the Singaporeans to give this concession during the free trade talks. Chewing gum is still not really freely available in Singapore, though.
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