Tribute to Hong Kong academic Anthony Hedley, a tenacious opponent of smoking and air pollution
The Post's Lai See columnist recalls the late Anthony Hedley - Hong Kong academic and tenacious opponent of smoking and air pollution
In the executive summary of his 2009 paper, "Air Pollution and Public Health", the University of Hong Kong professor Anthony Hedley wrote: "There is incontrovertible evidence that pollution levels currently experienced throughout the year in Hong Kong are causing an epidemic of health problems arising from damage to lungs, heart and blood vessels. Hong Kong's pollution is a significant cause of premature death from cardiopulmonary disorders."
It was a typically trenchant comment by Hedley, who died on Friday from neuroendocrine cancer, a rare form of pancreatic cancer that also killed Steve Jobs.
When Hedley came to Hong Kong in 1987 he took on two main challenges: smoking and air pollution. He worked relentlessly to improve tobacco control measures and air pollution regulations and was fiercely critical of the government for its slow progress on both fronts.
He produced many scientific studies on the effects of air pollution and tobacco smoke on people and published a huge amount of scientific data and evidence that the government and Legislative Council found hard to ignore.
"He put tobacco control on a solid scientific footing," said Judith Mackay, a senior adviser to the World Health Organisation on tobacco issues, who worked with Hedley in this field for years. She said Hedley was unusual for a man of his generation in that he used science to influence public policy and combined this with a tenacious advocacy.
He was also very open to the press as a way of getting through to the public. He was a pioneer in using public opinion surveys to determine public views on issues such as raising tobacco taxes and creating smoke-free areas, and nearly always found the public to be ahead of the government.
Most articles on air pollution in Hong Kong these days contain a reference to the Hedley Environmental Index, which he set up in 2010. This was largely a function of his frustration with the government's inaction over alarming increases in air pollution levels in Hong Kong and with its air quality objectives, which he considered were dangerously misleading, or as he put it, "a complete piece of fiction".
