A young man holds a cigaratte outside the Times Sqaure on Thursday. Edmond Tang / China Daily

The city's oldest medical faculty is urging support for a 41 percent increase in tobacco duties after releasing findings showing that the 50 percent hike in tobacco duties in 2009 resulted in a 51 percent drop in the number of youths picking up the habit.

The University of Hong Kong study covered more than 50,000 secondary school children interviewed between 2003 and 2010.

Respondents were asked whether they had had a cigarette in the past 30 days.

After the 50 percent hike in the tobacco duty in 2009, the percentage of young people saying that they had smoked in the previous 30 days dropped from 6.9 percent in 2008 to 4.8 percent in 2010.

By the end of the year the number had dipped all the way to 3.4 percent.

Assistant Professor at the School of Public Health of the university's Faculty of Medicine Daniel Ho Sai-yin said some 13,452 adolescents were steered away from smoking and some 6,726 deaths attributable to tobacco-induced diseases were potentially eliminated by the duty increase.

"Smoking has disastrous affects on adolescent health, such as reduction in lung function and increased risks of respiratory illness and atherosclerosis, diminishing overall physical health," he said.

"While in general, one out of two smokers will die from smoking, the risk of deaths for smokers who started smoking young can be much higher, meaning that two out of three such smokers will die from tobacco-induced diseases. Our research shows that the increase in tobacco tax is effective in reducing smoking rate among adolescents. Hence, I strongly believe that the proposed 40 percent rise in tobacco tax will further curb adolescent smoking," Ho said.

The school's Director Lam Tai-hing said: "Given that the tax increase is proven to have a major impact on reducing consumption and hence tobacco deaths, I call on legislators to support the financial secretary's proposal for a tax increase for the sake of public health. This powerful fiscal tool which can prevent thousands of young people from smoking and encourage many current smokers to quit, thus to save thousands of lives, rests in the hands of legislators."

Lam added that curbing tobacco use is in line with objectives set out by the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control's recommendations to protect public health, especially the present and future health of children.

The Tobacco Control Concern Group said raising prices may not reduce smoking.

It said, however, it may affect vendors and concurrently promote illicit sales of cigarettes.

The group noted that the number of illegal cigarettes seized in 2010 was at 76 million sticks, up 25 percent compared over 2009.

The city has also clamped down on duty-free cigarettes, limiting arrivals to 19 sticks of cigarettes, one stick shy of a pack.

The current duty accounts for 60 percent of retail prices.

At that rate, however, prices still lag behind other developed economies.

The World Health Organization has recommended that tobacco duties should be assessed at 75 percent of the retail price.

China Daily

(HK Edition 04/29/2011 page1)