Legislators approve amendments to tobacco control bill
發佈日期: 2025-09-11 21:24
TVB News
The Legislative Council on Thursday also passed the Tobacco Control Legislation (Amendment) Bill.
The bill was supported by 74 lawmakers and opposed by one. The bill will introduce 10 short-term anti-smoking measures, such as increasing penalties for duty-not-paid cigarettes and banning the possession of alternative smoking products.
Two lawmakers proposed amendments, including lifting the prohibition on the sale of heated flavour cigarettes, during the bill scrutiny process.
"But it seems that we think that we should legalise betting on basketball so that we can drive illegal gamblers to the legitimate market," said Liberal Party LegCo member Shiu Ka-fai, of Wholesale and Retail. "If the same logic goes, we should not ban flavoured cigarettes. Because if we ban it, we are driving people away from the legitimate market to the black market."
The Liberal Party's Lee Chun-keung, of the Election Committee Constituency, said: "The prohibition of flavoured cigarettes is not necessary. We should give choices to smokers, otherwise they will be driven to buy illicit cigarettes, or cheap whites in the black market."
Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau said: "Proposing or supporting the relevant amendment is tantamount to encourage tobacco companies to continue using flavoured cigarettes to attract young people to take the first puff. This sends an extreme wrong message to society."
The two amendment proposals were rejected.
