Government advisers propose ban on cigarettes for future Hong Kong generations
- Government advisers propose banning residents born in 2009 or after from buying cigarettes by 2027
- Council on Smoking and Health proposes creating ‘smoke-free generation’ by the end of five-year term of new administration
Hong Kong residents who were born in 2009 or after should be banned from buying cigarettes by 2027, government advisers have proposed, as they recommended a basket of measures to further shrink the smoking population.
The idea of creating a “smoke-free generation” by the end of the five-year term of the new administration was proposed by the Council on Smoking and Health on Thursday.
It means that when this group of residents reach 18 years old in 2027 or later, they will not be allowed to buy tobacco products.
“It can help achieve the ‘tobacco endgame’,” council chairman Henry Tong Sau-chai said. “We hope it can be achieved before the current government finishes its term.”
New Zealand has adopted the same approach, banning anyone born in 2008 or after from purchasing cigarettes.
The city’s smoking population dropped below double-digits last year for the first time since tracking began, hitting 9.5 per cent, but Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu pledged in his maiden policy address last month to lower the rate to 7.8 per cent in three years.
The Health Bureau is expected to unveil its plan for stronger tobacco controls for public consultation early next year.
Other measures proposed by the statutory body included doubling the current tobacco tax by 2023-24, which means a pack of cigarettes currently priced at HK$60 would rise to around HK$100.