Hong Kong to Fully Ban E-Cigarettes

Beijing Business Daily reported (Reporters: Qian Yu and Bai Yang): On October 10, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam stated in the 2018 Policy Address that Hong Kong would ban e-cigarettes. Previously, e-cigarettes had already drawn widespread public attention due to frequent safety incidents.

In fact, Hong Kong’s medical community had long been calling for a ban on e-cigarettes. On October 5 this year, several medical and patient organizations in Hong Kong announced the formation of an alliance to ban e-cigarettes, urging the SAR government to prohibit e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and other emerging tobacco products as soon as possible. They said that the public generally holds misconceptions about e-cigarettes, mistakenly believing they can help people quit smoking. In reality, compared with traditional cigarettes, e-cigarette aerosol also contains harmful compounds such as nicotine and formaldehyde, affecting people’s health.

Compared with Hong Kong, mainland China—as the inventor of e-cigarettes and the world’s primary production base—has an even more urgent need to comprehensively ban e-cigarettes in accordance with the law. However, apart from regulations such as this year’s Notice on Prohibiting the Sale of E-Cigarettes to Minors, regulatory oversight of e-cigarettes in mainland China remains largely absent.