Gov’t pledges to include e-cigarettes in revised tobacco bill

The coordinator of the Tobacco Control and Prevention Office has reassured lawmakers of the government’s intention to include regulations on electronic cigarettes when reviewing the current Tobacco Control and Prevention Law.
Several legislators have called on the government to regulate e-cigarettes during Tuesday’s Legislative Assembly (AL) plenary meeting.
“It’s a new trend and a lot of people use the e-cigarette. So we will be suggesting to include [regulations] on e-cigarettes while revising the law,” the coordinator of the Tobacco Control and Prevention Office announced.
Generally speaking, the use of electronic cigarettes and their effects isn’t looked upon favorably. In neighboring Hong
Kong, the government is planning to ban the sale of these products. Meanwhile, a group of five major electronic cigarette companies in the city have established an association to prevent the government from moving forward with its plan, the South China Morning Post reported this week.
Health officials in Hong Kong have said that e-cigarette manufacturers have been targeting young people while marketing e-cigarettes as a trendy product.
Electronic cigarettes are now widely used across the globe, and are presented as a safer alternative to traditional smoking.
Forbes also reported that researchers at the Hong Kong watchdog Council on Smoking and Health warned that e-cigarettes targeting youngsters could lead to a “tobacco epidemic.”
Currently, e-cigarettes can be sold legally in Hong Kong to anyone, irrespective of age, if the product does not contain nicotine. But any product with more than 0.1 percent nicotine must be registered as a pharmacy product with the Department of Health.
“The government should regulate the content of e-cigarettes and ban them for those under the age of 18,” said one founder of the Asian Vape Association in Hong Kong, Nav Lalji, before adding, “but it is a free market and adults should be able to choose whether or not to use e-cigarettes.”
Macau’s current legislation does not include regulations on e-cigarettes, but it states that authorities can cease the sale of tobacco products in the case that they fail to comply with regulations relating to levels of tar, or when they are not appropriately labeled. However, while e-cigarettes do not contain tobacco, some do have nicotine.
The need to legislate on e-cigarettes has been highlighted on numerous occasions, particularly when amendments to the Tobacco Prevention and Control Law took effect in 2012, and now the government is reviewing the law in an attempt to implement a full smoking ban in casinos.
The United Nations health agency recommended last year that nations regulate electronic cigarettes and ban their use indoors until the exhaled vapor is proven to not harm bystanders.  CP

Over 2,000 fines applied over breaches of smoking ban

The Health Bureau (SSM) has applied a total of 2,515 fines to people found breaching the smoking ban between January and April 30. SSM said in a statement that it had launched a total of 94,055 inspections on different indoor spaces where smoking is illegal.
The bureau also recorded 10 different types of tobacco products that failed to meet label requirements.
Most offenders are male (2,328), while female offenders accounted for 7.1 percent (177 cases). Most offenders are Macau residents (61.5 percent), 34.2 percent are tourists and 4.3 percent are non-resident workers.
Most offenses were recorded in internet cafés (16.1 percent) and games arcades (14,8 percent), followed by malls (12.8 percent). A total of 33.2 percent of offenses were recorded in the Tap Seac area, SSM added.
Since the beginning of the year, 78.6 percent of offenders have paid fines.
SSM revealed that 136 people were caught smoking in prohibited areas in Macau’s casinos between the start of January and April 30.