Sarah M McGhee from the Department of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong has come up with the following statistics in relation to passive smoking and the associated health effects and costs involved in this presentation on: Population Attributable Fractions And Costs Of Passive Smoking.
November 26th, 2007:
Smoke Pollution at Water Margin, Discovery Bay
This letter was sent by Nigel Bruce, a member of Clear The Air Hong Kong, to Lewis Ho and cc’ed to Douglas Louden of Hong Kong Resorts International Ltd in reference to smoking in Discovery Bay’s Water Margin Complex.
Dear Mr. Ho,
You will have seen the article in Sunday’s SCMP. The article omits to mention that an average of 60% of Water Margin tables are outdoors, and rather underestimates the number of Discovery Bay citizens who are fed up with dining through a pall of someone else’s smoke. As I have mentioned, the attraction of the Water Margin lies in its outdoor view and ambience – we know we can sit indoors to escape smoke pollution.
I happen to be a Clear The Air member who has been seeking discussion rather than confrontation, and who has written to you twice to seek clarification on HKRI’s environmental policy re. the combination of smoking and dining it allows to continue on such a large scale.
But I have yet to receive a reply.
I refer in particular to my question:
Also, when you say: “Having said that, however, we would encourage the individual restaurants to allocate non-smoking areas within their leased premises on a voluntary basis so that both the smoking and non-smoking population can enjoy the superb Water Margin outdoor experience”, does this mean that you have not actually entered into any discussions with your tenant restaurants about their smoking policies?
The restaurants in the Water Margin seem to be offering to discuss compromise (as well as taking legal action against Clear The Air!) – why then does Management not take a lead and open discussions with them, as you suggest they might in your reply of 16th October?
Kind regards,
Nigel Bruce
Smoking Costs Hong Kong Over $5 Billion Every Year
A collaborative research project between University of Hong Kong and University of Queensland
School of Public Health Department of Community Medicine University of Hong Kong
The first comprehensive assessment of the costs of tobacco in Asia
Why is this topic important?
- Smoking tobacco affects the health of the smoker and those around the smoker
- This effect on health creates costs which are shared by several groups
- Knowing the extent of these costs and who pays for them is essential information for policy decision-making
View the complete presentation here: http://tobacco.cleartheair.org.hk/documents/tobacco-costs-asia.pdf
Tobacco industry uses dangerous additives
Published in The Copenhagen Post on the 26th of November 2007:
Research indicates cigarette makers have increased the risks of smoking by adding chemicals
A new study from the Danish Cancer Society charges the tobacco industry with knowingly adding at least 200 different chemicals to its products in order to make it easier for people to smoke.
Some of the chemicals also increase the addictive power of nicotine, according to Per Kim Nielsen of the Cancer Society.
He added that some of the chemicals are directly harmful to the body.
‘We know that smoking causes cancer. But some of these additives increase the risk of developing cancer,’ Nielsen told public broadcaster DR.
Scandinavian Tobacco, Denmark’s largest producer of tobacco products, categorically denied using additives in order to increase the potency of its tobacco products.