Legislative Council proposes to abandon smoking ban

01 point of view

Written by: Review Editor Room

2020-05-15 10:00

The Hong Kong Government submitted to the Legislative Council the document "Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Bill 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the" Ordinance ") in February last year. However, this regulation aimed at prohibiting" alternative smoking products "has not yet been implemented. Complete the legislative process.

Guo Weiqiang, a member of the Legislative Council of the Federation of Trade Unions and chairman of the Bills Committee, said on Wednesday (13th) that it would be "unrealistic" to complete the deliberations this year, so he will ask Members whether they agree to suspend performance. However, since the original intention of the ordinance was to protect the health of the people, the Legislative Council may also consider changing it to "forbid e-cigarettes first, and then ban heating of cigarettes".

In view of the prevalence of smoking electronic cigarettes and heated cigarettes, the Food and Health Bureau submitted a document to the Legislative Council in February last year, recommending that Hong Kong be prohibited from importing, manufacturing, selling, distributing and promoting "alternative smoking products". Offenders can be jailed for up to six months And a fine of 50,000 yuan. Although Ruan Huixian, deputy secretary general of the Food and Health Bureau, expected the amendment to take about six months, the result was counterproductive.

The difference between heating cigarette and electronic cigarette

As the draft was stuck in the parliament, the chairman of the Bills Committee, Guo Weiqiang, believed that the chances of passing this year's session were minimal, and gave members a week to reply whether they agreed to suspend the deliberations. However, cross-party MPs reacted differently to the proposal. For example, in addition to the hope that the Bill will pass the bill as soon as possible, Huang Biyun also suggested that the government separate the electronic cigarette and heated cigarette. It also points out disputes over the regulation of heating cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

Although heating cigarettes and e-cigarettes are both classified as "alternative smoking products" by the authorities, they have caused different controversies due to their different harms to the body. Generally speaking, non-burning tobacco products can be divided into two categories. One is electronic cigarettes, that is, electronic nicotine delivery systems, and then aerosols are delivered by heating solutions; the other is heating cigarettes that more Hong Kong people smoke. It is the high temperature heating of tobacco through electronic devices, not the traditional burning cigarette.

Even if all kinds of alternative smoking products are harmless to the body without benefit, the degree of difference is enough to affect the tightness of the regulations. According to the comprehensive research report of the Legislative Council, the nicotine contained in e-cigarettes "is sufficient to accelerate the heartbeat and increase the systolic and diastolic blood pressure", so "it may be an additional risk to people whose constitution is vulnerable" "There is also" moderate evidence "showing that" youths who use e-cigarettes have more coughing and wheezing, and more asthma exacerbations ", and there have been more deaths in the United States in recent years that are suspected to be caused by smoking e-cigarettes. The health risks cannot be ignored.

Electronic cigarettes are not controversial

The greater controversy lies in the risk of heating smoke. Since its launch in Japan in 2014, although research has proved that heated cigarettes also contain the harmful components of traditional cigarettes, such as nicotine, carbon monoxide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, according to the test of the US Food and Drug Administration, heated smoke mist The selected harmful substances have less smoke than traditional cigarettes. In addition, although there are currently few cases of deaths induced by heated cigarettes, part of the reason is that the introduction of the market is short and the number of studies is limited. Therefore, it is not possible to casually determine that heated cigarettes are "safer" than traditional cigarettes, and can only be determined to be more electronic cigarettes. The risk is low. This is where the controversy lies.

The number of people who have learned to smoke alternative smoking products has shown a clear upward trend in recent years. The imperative of the members of the Hong Kong Government and the Legislative Council is to repair loopholes in the law and protect the health of the people. Since the current controversy is focused on heating cigarettes rather than e-cigarettes, segmentation may be a necessary means to preserve results. In the long run, although the smoking population in Hong Kong has declined steadily in the past 20 years, the handling of alternative smoking products is only a small step forward. Vision.

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Electronic cigarette heating cigarette Guo Weiqiang 01 views