Hong Kong Leader Proposes E-Cig Ban, Industry Representatives Welcome It

In this year's Policy Address, the Chief Executive, Mrs. Carrie Lam, proposed to legislate for a total ban on e-cigarettes and other new smoking products. A total of 25 representatives from six sectors, including tobacco control groups, academics, healthcare professionals, parents and educators, youth service groups and patients' organizations, attended a press conference today (15) to welcome the initiative and urge the Government to set a target and timetable for a complete ban.

According to Hong Kong's "Ming Pao" reported, Hong Kong Committee on Smoking and Health Chairman Kwong Cho Shing pointed out that since 2015, the Committee has advocated the Government to ban e-cigarettes, but every time any new tobacco control measures are proposed, tobacco companies are mobilized to stop, and will use false figures to confuse, the purpose is only to attract non-smokers, especially young people to smoke, and urged the Government to legislate as soon as possible. He said many legislators, such as Mr. Ip Kin-yuen, Mr. Kwok Ka-ki and Mr. Chan Pui-yin, supported a total ban on e-cigarettes and would continue to lobby other legislators in the future. He hoped that the Financial Secretary would increase the tobacco tax significantly in the next budget.

Professor Gabriel Leung, Dean of The University of Hong Kong Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, said he was pleased to see Carrie Lam's courageous and decisive decision to ban e-cigarettes. He also said he noticed that the organization & ldquo; Smokefree World Foundation & rdquo; does not support a total ban on e-cigarettes, and said it was hard to believe that the foundation's president, Derek Yach, could have rushed to Hong Kong to hold a press conference just 24 hours after the delivery of the policy address. Leung said, Derek Yach in the World Health Organization is responsible for chronic disease research, and later & ldquo; career to the next level & rdquo;, respectively, to a soda company and tobacco companies as the head of global health.

Derek Yach, president of the Smokefree World Foundation, came to Hong Kong earlier and said that he did not support a total ban on e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes, and regretted the decision to impose a total ban on e-cigarettes in the policy address. The foundation has obtained a commitment from tobacco company Philip Morris International to ban e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes for 12 consecutive years since 2018. Morris International has pledged to donate US$8 million (about S$11.02 million) annually for 12 consecutive years. The Foundation has made it clear that Philip & middot; Morris and the tobacco industry as a whole have no control or influence over the Foundation.