Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor continues with her proposal of the total ban of e-cigarettes and other new smoking alternatives, including its advertisements, sales, distribution, manufacture, and import. In October, her policy addressed these products were promoted to be less harmful than cigarettes, but they target young people and non-smokers to eventually smoke cigarettes.
Lam's threat to ban e-cigarettes was unexpected since the government considered the suggestion in regulating their sales in June. But, anti-smoking campaigners support the total ban as they have been longed for e-cigarette products to be outlawed, noting they aren't different from conventional cigarettes. The US authorities, as well as the World Health Organization (WHO), also pointed out the dangers brought by e-cigarette products, and Singapore banned the products too.
As per the South China Morning Post, the discussion in banning e-cigarette products started back in 2015, after the Hong Kong government first proposed the idea. The total ban was favored in 2016, but former Health Chief Dr. Ko Wing-man found it hard to go ahead with the proposal since studies by related departments found implementing it would be problematic.
A source, who is familiar with the previous administration, said there are two concerns why they find it difficult to implement the ban. First, it would make a huge impact on the livelihoods of the retailers, and the second one is some people might question the ban by asking why conventional cigarettes weren't outlawed as well.
If the government pushes through with the total ban, everything will change. According to Max Chan Man-fai, chairman of the Vape Association, the retail market of Hong Kong was small compared to the wholesale business and re-exporting to countries such as Britain and the US. He said the government didn't make it clear whether the ban would extend to re-exporting e-cigarette products.
Chan added there would be a huge impact in the international e-cigarette trade if re-exporting will be banned too. Shenzhen, in particular, produced almost 90 percent of e-cigarettes in the world and the majority of producers in the mainland preferred to ship through Hong Kong.
Director of Innokin Technology, Cui Tao, said 60 to 70 percent of their exports went via Hong Kong to other countries, including Canada, Australia, and the US. If Hong Kong barred re-exporting e-cigarettes, it would be a big blow to Shenzhen manufacturers because it would take longer and cost more to ship e-cigarette products through mainland ports.
Hong Kong was the key to the e-cigarette trade between the US and mainland China, said Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association. If the city cannot re-export these products, there will be delays and higher prices for American companies upon receiving them.
However, according to Dr. Daniel Ho Sai-yin, associate professor of the University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health, health experts do not consider the interests of businesspeople during debates over smoking alternatives. He said that when the total ban was implemented, re-exporting e-cigarettes should be banned as well to avoid contradiction in policies.
