Smoking rate hits historic low in HK: govt

The Department of Health on Wednesday said the current smoking rate of Hong Kong stands at 8.5 percent, marking an historic low for the total number of smokers in the city since 1982. Manny Lam, head of the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office, attributed the decline to the government's multi-faceted approach in introducing tobacco control measures over the years. "Among all these years, we continued to introduce new measures, such as [in] 2024, we introduced the 10 tobacco control measures and most of them have already been implemented," Lam said. "We expect there will be a continuing decrease in the smoking prevalence in the coming years." The department also noted that nearly 40 percent of smokers smoke flavoured cigarettes and the situation was prevalent among females and younger adults. “Flavoured cigarettes have a very significant effect in attracting females and also our young generation to start smoking and to continue to use these products because these flavours will reduce the harshness of the smoke. “Evidence also showed that people who use flavoured cigarettes will [find it] more difficult to stop smoking,” Lam added. Lam said the department is working out measures to ban flavoured cigarettes. “We already have a plan to introduce a ban on flavoured cigarettes after the implementation of the coming measures including the plain packaging and also the duty stamp for the cigarettes,” Lam said. The chairman of the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, Henry Tong, added that flavoured cigarettes are “sugar-coated poison”. “Flavoured cigarettes are really poisonous and harmful to people, but they have a sugar coat. “The people who smoke [flavoured cigarettes] don’t notice and they actually feel that because of the sugar coat and the flavour, the harm is smaller, which is completely misleading,” Tong said. Tong suggested there is a need for better education and enforcement in banning flavoured cigarettes in Hong Kong. As in previous years, the department has also launched its “Quit in June” campaign, aiming to encourage and support smokers in their efforts to quit. Measures include the distribution of free one-week trial packs of nicotine replacement therapy drugs as well as Chinese medicine ear points patches. Edited by Tony Sabine