Just SayingTobacco merchants of death are killing a bid to save lives in Hong Kong

I was at a 7-Eleven convenience store the other day when two young women walked in to buy cigarettes. There was a bit of a hold-up at the counter because they wanted the packet with the least repulsive graphic warning label.

After some back and forth with a store clerk who was both amused and annoyed, they finally settled for one that didn’t remind them too much of what their internal organs will look like when smoking finally kills or maims them.

They, like many smokers in our city, may not be aware of it, but a suffocating war – unprecedented in skullduggery and Machiavellian manipulation – is being fought over their health in the city’s legislature. I’m talking about Hong Kong’s bid to slap bigger warning labels as well as more warnings on cigarette packs, along with a hotline number to help smokers quit.

Hong Kong is one of more than 100 jurisdictions to have put graphic warning labels on cigarette packets, but has fallen far behind many of its peers as there has been no upgrade since it started the practice in 2007.