Delays to e-cigarette sales ban in Hong Kong is entrenching the habit into youngsters’ lives, campaigners warn
- Nearly 86 per cent of 283 current smokers aged 25 or below tried e-cigarettes or heated tobacco products in 2019-20, survey finds
- Lawmakers urged to hurry up and pass a bill, introduced in early 2019, to ban the import, production, distribution, sales and promotion of new smoking products
Delays to Hong Kong legislation banning sales of e-cigarettes have allowed them to become further entrenched in young people’s lives, according to anti-smoking campaigners.
Nearly 86 per cent of 283 current smokers aged 25 or below tried e-cigarettes or heated tobacco products in 2019-20, according to a survey by Youth Quitline, a smoking cessation hotline set up by the University of Hong Kong (HKU).
The proportion has increased for the third straight year, from 73 per cent in 2018-2019 and 57 per cent the previous year.
“Many youngsters started smoking these new tobacco [products] out of curiosity, peer influence, or the misconceptions that these alternatives are less harmful and they can use them to quit traditional tobacco,” Li told a press conference on Thursday.
“Increased online marketing from e-cigarettes and heated tobacco companies, no regulation over underage buyers and cheaper pricing all contributed to the surge in the use of the NTPs.”
A bill to outlaw the import, production, distribution, sales and promotion of new smoking products was introduced to the Legislative Council in February 2019 but has been stuck there ever since.