Lifetime ban on cigarettes for Hongkongers born after certain date proposed in public consultation on smoking
- Health minister Lo Chung-mau says consultation to be based on four anti-smoking strategies
- People can comment on 17 possible measures floated in consultation questionnaire
Health authorities stopped short of offering concrete measures under four new anti-smoking strategies proposed on Wednesday, with a government source saying members of the city’s top decision-making body had grave concerns that some contentious suggestions would trigger strong opposition from smokers and the business sector.
The consultation, involving a citywide questionnaire, began on Wednesday and is expected to end on September 30.
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Health minister Lo Chung-mau said the consultation would cover four strategies – regulating supply and suppressing demand, banning promotion and reducing attractiveness, expanding non-smoking areas and mitigating harm, and enhancing education and supporting those quitting the habit.
“To protect our next generation from the harms of tobacco and to ensure the sustainability of our healthcare system, we need to draft strategies that keep up with the times,” Lo told a press briefing.
“As a doctor, I don’t want our next generation to suffer from the harms of smoking and second-hand smoke.”
People can comment on 17 possible measures floated in the questionnaire, including whether the city should “prohibit the sale of tobacco products to persons born after a certain date”.
“We want to seek the public’s opinion on whether this is suitable for Hong Kong, how widely does the public accept this?” Deputy Secretary for Health Eddie Lee Lik-kong said. “On details of operation and implementation, we need to factor in opinions first, then decide on the next step.”
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Officials, however, are seeking opinions on whether providing tobacco products to people under the minimum legal age should be banned.
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Other questions include whether increasing the tobacco tax to 75 per cent of the package price – a target recommended by the World Health Organization – should be done rapidly or gradually every year.
The government in February raised the duty on a pack of cigarettes by HK$12, bringing the proportion of tax to 64 per cent of the total retail price.
The questionnaire also asks if a further ban on possessing e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products is necessary, after importing, promoting, manufacturing and selling such items were prohibited last year.
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Late last year, Lo said gradually raising the legal age for buying tobacco products and preventing the next generation from consuming such items were among options he was considering to control smoking in the younger population. But he did not give concrete details.
Nevertheless, the health secretary on Wednesday said officials had no specific positions or agenda, and wished to listen to people’s opinions on policies.
“We’ve kept a very open mind. We will consider each and every possible strategy and policy and try to reduce our smoking rate,” Lo said.
They included requiring shops to get a licence to sell tobacco, penalising third parties who gave or sold cigarettes to those under 18 years, labelling tobacco products imported legally, and requiring smokers to use a government app to show their age when buying goods to verify their eligibility.
“But the public consultation document eventually avoided them to steer clear of strong opposition from smokers and the retail and dining sectors, which might create contention in society,” the source said.
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The city’s smoking rate stands at 9.5 per cent, or nearly 600,000 people, with 50 per cent of them aged 50 or above. Authorities noted a rising trend of women smoking, while 7 per cent of secondary school students had experience of the habit.
“Our ultimate target is a tobacco-free Hong Kong … this is the direction – we want to reduce the smoking rate as much as possible,” Lo said, adding the government would lay out a longer-term target after 2025.
Health officials earlier said the city would work towards a tobacco end-game, commonly defined as reducing the smoking prevalence to 5 per cent or below.
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Henry Tong Sau-chai, chairman of the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, a statutory body advising the government, expressed support for more stringent tobacco control policies.
“More effort should also be made to reduce the impact of second-hand smoke by expanding non-smoking areas, and banning ‘smoking while walking’,” he said.
Daniel Ho Sai-yin, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong’s school of public health who studies tobacco control policies, said the government’s consultation had considered international developments and local concerns.
While the government had put aside some of the more contentious ideas, Ho said those were not mainstream tobacco control measures.
“If the government can implement measures mentioned [in the consultation], including raising the tobacco tax to 75 per cent, that will already be a very effective move,” Ho said.
The Long-term Tobacco Policy Concern Group urged the government to listen to the opinion of smokers during the consultation.
The group, formed by smokers, criticised the idea of imposing a lifetime tobacco ban on people born after a certain date.
“That policy has not been proven effective in other places and its impact on tobacco control remains in doubt,” it said.
Additional reporting by Olga Wong
