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Hong Kong needs to clear the air on e-cigarettes for the sake of its smokers
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I refer to the Hong Kong government’s legislative proposal to amend the Smoking and (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap 371), to regulate e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn products and subject these products to the same regulation as conventional cigarettes.
I am a psychotherapist working in Singapore, with a speciality in quit-smoking interventions and the research surrounding e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn products.
It is my view and the predominant view of the global scientific community and health care experts dealing with smoking, that such products must not be treated in public health policy the same way as conventional cigarettes. That is because scientific studies have shown these products are materially (90 to 95 per cent or more) safer than conventional cigarettes. Further, these alternative products help smokers to quit, and are therefore an effective nicotine replacement therapy.
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Existing quit-smoking nicotine replacement therapy options (gums, patches, lozenges, nicotine nasal and other aerosol sprays) and conventional cigarette control measures have failed to significantly reduce conventional cigarette use in developed societies, including Singapore and Hong Kong, over the past 15 years.
Recent evidence in Japan and South Korea suggests that the quantity of cigarettes sold has decreased between 10 per cent and 17 per cent annually, and this has followed the recent introduction of heat-not-burn products. Also, British public health experts said more than 20,000 UK smokers a year have quit, plausibly after using e-cigarettes.
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