Vaping Ban

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1792317/e-cigarette-companies-unite-tackle-proposed-ban

Five major electronic cigarette companies in the city have formed a new association to block the government’s plan to ban the sale of their products in the city, the Post has learned.

Nav Lalji, one founder of the Asian Vape Association formed last week, said the group contained major players in the e-cigarette industry – including sellers, distributors and manufacturers – who make up about 70 per cent of the local market.

“It is irresponsible for the government to prohibit personal vaporisers with no scientific basis,” he said. “If they are worried about harmful substances, they should regulate them instead of banning them.”

Health officials believed the manufacturers were targeting young people and marketing the e-cigarettes as trendy products. But Lalji, who is the founder and manufacturer of the e-cigarette brand Mist, rejected such claims.

He said the members of the association sold their products to adults at hotels, restaurants and bars as an alternative to tobacco.

None of their products contain nicotine and all were up to the international safety standards set by the US Food and Drug Administration, he said.

E-cigarettes can be sold legally in Hong Kong with no age limit if the product does not contain nicotine. Any product with more than 0.1 per cent nicotine must be registered as a pharmacy product with the Department of Health.

Lalji said many low-quality e-cigarettes were being marketed as candies and sold in small shopping malls, a popular haunt of young people, and that these products should be regulated.

He said these were non-mainstream products, usually ordered by individuals through the internet, and that the seller might not have full knowledge of the vapours’ content.

“The government should regulate the content of e-cigarettes and ban them for those under the age of 18,” he said. “But it is a free market and adults should be able to choose whether or not to use e-cigarettes.

“If the government is worried about the safety of the public, how come they do not ban the consumption of tobacco first? It is a known fact tobacco poses many health risks to smokers and the public.”

He hoped the association could negotiate with the government over a proposed citywide ban, expected to be presented in the Legislative Council later this year, according to Undersecretary for Food and Health Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee.

Chan said many battery-powered vaporisers contained substances that were addictive and hazardous to health, and that there was little evidence to show they reduced the consumption of tobacco.

E-cigarettes can only be used in designated smoking zones.

Health secretary backs anti-smoking agency’s call, saying studies needed before law is set

The government yesterday said it would consider a total ban on electronic cigarettes after the city’s anti-smoking watchdog called for a ban on the “personal vaporisers”.

Hours after the Council on Smoking and Health (Cosh) presented its survey results, Secretary for Food and Health Dr Ko Wing-man said the government was “inclined to agree” with the council’s request due to some proven health risks.

“There is also a risk that youngsters would pick up smoking [traditional] cigarettes after they begin smoking e-cigarettes, which is why we are inclined to accept Cosh’s recommendations,” Ko said. He added that detailed studies would be required before they could proceed with legislation.

A University of Hong Kong telephone survey of 2,400 local residents found that only 1.8 per cent of respondents used electronic cigarettes. But the council insisted that a preemptive approach was still needed.

E-cigarettes – “personal vaporisers” used as an alternative to tobacco – can be sold legally in Hong Kong if they do not contain nicotine. Any product with more than 0.1 per cent nicotine is required to be registered with the Health Department.

Professor Daniel Ho Sai-yin, of HKU’s department of community medicine, said new findings about harmful ingredients in e-cigarettes kept emerging.

“We cannot start banning [e-cigarettes] only after hundreds of thousands of people have been killed,” Ho said. “In the 1980s, Hong Kong managed to ban smokeless tobacco before it became popular, so that’s why today we don’t see any cases of people with cancer because they chewed such tobacco.”

Apart from nicotine, Ho said e-cigarettes had also been found to contain carcinogenic chemicals such as formaldehyde when ingredients were heated at high temperatures.

The council also dismissed as “misleading” claims made by manufacturers that they can help smokers quit traditional cigarettes, and the products were non-addictive or eco-friendly.

Young people were particularly vulnerable as e-cigarettes were usually marketed as the “affordable alternative” to traditional cigarettes, the council said.

The survey – which covered smokers, non-smokers and former smokers – also revealed that non-smokers aged between 15 and 29 were more likely to start using e-cigarettes.

Citing World Health Organisation advice for e-cigarettes to be regulated in a similar way to traditional products, the council said the ban should cover the sale, advertising, promotion, sponsorship, distribution, import and manufacturing.

Source URL (modified on Mar 31st 2015, 12:57am): http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1751034/hong-kong-anti-smoking-watchdog-urges-ban-e-cigarettes