Tobacco control experts welcome new anti-smoking moves
An expert in tobacco control has hailed the government's latest moves to bring down the smoking rate, but she says that more measures will be needed going forward especially when it comes to stopping young people from smoking.  In an interview with RTHK, the director of the Asian Consultancy on Tobacco Control, Judith Mackay, said the short-term measures, including banning flavoured cigarettes, were spot on. "I think it is really important that the government has done this," she said. "I mean we still have 600,000 smokers in Hong Kong and we know that 400,000 of them will die from tobacco." Mackay also said governments needed to think of new ways to tackle smoking going forward and this included banning the sale of cigarettes to people born after a certain date. "I think you can divide tobacco control into two areas. One is existing measures and extending them," she said. "But then we also have to think of new measures and to try to be innovative, particularly in terms of young people." Mackay said the idea of having a smoke-free generation had been considered in New Zealand and the UK but had been stymied by changes in government. She said it didn't surprise her that the SAR government hadn't included a ban on sales of tobacco to people born before a certain date in its latest measures but that it was still on the books. On Thursday, the government proposed a blanket ban on E-cigarettes, flavoured cigarettes and lighting up while in a queue, as part of moves designed to bring about a "cultural change". Other planned measures include removing branding from cigarette packaging and heightening health warnings.  Mackay also said she had never met a smoker who wanted to keep smoking. She said parents who smoked also didn't want their children to smoke as it was dangerous and expensive. Meanwhile, Henry Tong - who chairs the Council on Smoking and Health - said vapes and flavoured cigarettes have been shown to be particularly attractive to young smokers and female smokers. "The survey yesterday that the government released shows that about 70 percent of female smokers and young smokers smoke flavoured tobacco products," he said while appearing on RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme. "And vapes, e-cigarettes, these are trendy products. They are attractive to young people." Tong said banning the possession of e-cigarettes was the second half of the government's action against the product, after it banned their importation, manufacture and sale two years ago. He said he really welcomed the government's measure. The Health Secretary, Lo Chung-mau, has said the government plans to reduce the smoking prevalence rate to to 7.8 [ercent next year from the current 9.1 percent.