Hong Kong smokers have been lighting up 12 million more
cigarettes a month since the special administrative region's
government imposed a public smoking ban a year ago, a newspaper
said yesterday.
Hong Kong's Customs and Excise Department said it had collected
duty on an average of 289.6 million cigarettes monthly in 2007,
compared with 278 million per month in 2006.
The figures suggest that Hong Kong people are smoking 12 million
more cigarettes a month, despite a ban on January 1 last year on
smoking in most public places.
"I think the smoking ban can prevent second-hand smoke in public
places ... but to motivate people to quit, the government still has
a long way to go," medical sector legislator Kwok Ka-ki was quoted
by the South China Morning Post.
The anti-smoking laws brought Hong Kong, which has a population
of seven million, into line with several countries that have banned
smoking in most public places. Germany and France introduced bans
on Tuesday.
The Hong Kong ban is not absolute, with more than 800 bars,
saunas, nightclubs and mahjong parlors granted exemptions until
mid-2009, drawing fire from anti-smoking campaigners.
Hong Kong's growing population and the low price of cigarettes
were cited as factors for increased tobacco use.
"The price of cigarettes and tobacco has not increased for seven
years," Anthony Hedley, an anti-smoking campaigner with the
University of Hong Kong, told the newspaper.
Hong Kong has around 840,000 smokers according to government
figures.
(Shanghai Daily January 3, 2008)