LettersHong Kong’s vaping ban is based on unfounded fears

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Many people use vaping to help them quit smoking. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:41am, 9 Dec 2018Updated: 4:41am, 9 Dec 2018

There is no doubt that vaping is better for a person than smoking cigarettes (“Why must Hong Kong ban e-cigarettes?” December 1).

Cigarette smoke is filled with a large number of carcinogens, whereas vape liquid has only two main constituents, propylene glycol – which is used to simulate smoke for toy trains and boats – and vegetable glycerine, which is widely used in the food industry and needs no introduction. The flavours are derived from small quantities of artificial and natural flavourings, much like any packaged food. Nicotine is in some e-liquids, while others have it added when it is bought to match the customer’s preference, if they want it.

E-cigarettes and other vaping products on display at a shop in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Nora Tam

Some people begrudgingly admit that vaping may be better than smoking, but still refuse to say outright that vaping is not bad for you. Professor Riccardo Polosa of the Institute for Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology at the University of Catania in Italy disagrees. He studied a group of nine non-smokers who had just taken up vaping, and found that after 3.5 years they were not adversely affected.

Hong Kong’s burgeoning e-cigarette industry on the precipice as city mulls total ban

Vaping is a booming industry; any study will attest to increasing numbers of vapers. How about the decreasing numbers of smokers? Isn’t one on the rise and the other on the decline because the newer generation are more health-conscious? Many smokers use vaping as a crutch when trying to quit, too.

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Hong Kong’s burgeoning e-cigarette industry on the precipice as city mulls total ban