Campaign to stub out smoking in Hong Kong has to push on as numbers fall
- With daily rates of 9.5 per cent for people aged 15 years and over, the city has joined a global low-smoking club and its efforts will lead to a healthier future
Hong Kong has joined an elite club of low-smoking global regions with daily rates below 10 per cent for people aged 15 years and over. The figure of 9.5 per cent, or about 600,000 smokers, represents the culmination of decades of effort by officials and lobby groups.
But given the detrimental impact of cigarettes and other tobacco products to community health, the push towards zero has to continue apace. Extending no-smoking zones, targeting affordability and furthering education have to remain the basis of any strategy.
A single-digit smoking rate is rare among developed places, Sweden, with 6 per cent, and Norway, 9 per cent, being among the few lower.
But whether campaigning is the only reason for the drop from 10.2 per cent in 2019 is not clear; a suggestion that Covid-19 restrictions mandating the wearing of masks in public may have contributed makes sense.
That rule, in effect, means removing face coverings to smoke constitutes a violation liable to attract a fine. But as the disease is tamed and rules are relaxed, those accidental safeguards will obviously also disappear.
01:03
Smoke-free generation: New Zealand to ban cigarette sales for people born after 2008
There was a corresponding surge in the number of people using e-cigarettes, but the ban on the import, manufacture, distribution and sale of such products that took effect from April 30 is likely to cause a decrease.
E-cigarettes were prohibited as they were perceived as encouraging young people to smoke, but the argument raises questions as to why it should not also be applied to cigarettes and other tobacco-related products.
That smoking endangers people’s health is well established and scientifically proven. It is, after all, the single biggest cause of illness and premature death in Hong Kong, taking at least 10 lives a day.
Tobacco use increases the risk of lung and oral cancer, heart disease, blood clots and stroke for smokers and those exposed to second-hand smoke.
Most governments recognise the dangers of tobacco, and restrict who can buy it and where it can be used. But none have introduced outright bans, accepting the rights of citizens and the worth to the economy in creating jobs and providing tax revenue.
New Zealand is the first to move in that direction, though, passing a law last year that will bar anyone born after 2008 from smoking starting in 2027, when the legal smoking age of 18 will be annually raised by one year.
Hong Kong has opted for a milder approach, aiming to lower the smoking rate to 7.8 per cent by 2025 through a continuation of existing policies.
The tobacco lobby has great influence. Authorities worry that a ban or excessive imposition of tax to raise prices would increase the black-market trade in cigarettes.
But as their response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the name of preventing serious illness and deaths proves, there is a will and ability to act when the need arises.
