'Anti-smoking campaign not affecting people's rights'
A public health expert said on Saturday the city should act fast in implementing policies to reduce the smoking rate and that the anti-smoking campaign is not about restricting people's rights, but a retail sector representative cautioned that authorities should not go to extremes. Daniel Ho, a member of the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health and an associate professor from the University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health, made the comments a week after the government launched a public consultation on 14 policy suggestions to help the SAR become a smoke-free city.  The suggestions include raising taxes on cigarettes and banning the sale of tobacco products to individuals born after a certain date.  "If we can implement the suggestions quickly, I believe it will be very effective in reducing the smoking rate. And time is crucial here as we hope to achieve a smoking rate of 7.8 percent or below by 2025 or earlier. Time is running out, and we should implement these suggestions as soon as possible," Ho said. He also said any moves to avoid self-harm does not undermine human rights. "Public health matters have never been about absolute freedom," Ho said, citing the example of how Covid vaccination requirements have limited some people from dining out in the past. He added that tobacco should be classified as an illegal drug. Retail sector lawmaker, Peter Shiu, said on the same programme that aiming to reduce the number of smokers is fine, but said the authorities should avoid using extreme measures to achieve that goal. "[For example], littering on the street is not the right thing to do... but imposing a fine of HK$100,000 for littering is extreme. What I'm saying is that we should carefully consider how to implement smoking control policies without going to extremes and affecting some people's freedom of choice," Shiu said. The lawmaker also said prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to people born after a certain date would affect freedom of choice. The public consultation on the tobacco control strategies will end on September 30.