Christine Hu, spokeswoman of the Coalition on Tobacco Affairs,
said: “We are disappointed by the government’s selective and blind
adoption of views expressed by certain groups, while ignoring
opinions from the industry and scientific data from overseas.”
Morning Post columnist Stephen Vines branded the move “absurd”
and asked, in an article for the paper: “If vaping is bad as smoking,
why hasn’t tobacco been outlawed?”
He said: “Those promoting the ban have overexcitedly argued that
vaping either poses a greater health risk than tobacco consumption,
or is just as bad.
“They have focused their concern on the attraction e-cigarettes
hold for the young and cited controversial evidence that vaping
does nothing to reduce tobacco consumption.
“The ban on e-cigarettes undermines Hong Kong’s fundamental
capitalist ethos that stresses choice, self-reliance and firm opposition
to government control of markets.”
He concluded that the only immediate beneficiary of the new ban
would be tobacco companies, which could look forward to reversing
the trend of declining cigarette sales.
Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee, Secretary for Food and Health,
said the new policy had been finalized and would not be changed.
She dismissed concerns that the move would encourage vapers
to switch back to cigarettes as “mere speculation” which was not
supported by data.
Professor Gabriel Matthew Leung Cheuk-wai, dean of the University
of Hong Kong Faculty of Medicine praised the measure as an
“important milestone” and also called for a “significant increase”
in tobacco tax in the next budget.
“ The
ban on
e-cigarettes
undermines
Hong Kong’s
fundamental
capitalist ethos that
stresses choice,
self-reliance and
firm opposition to
government control
of markets. ”
VM20 | 81