Govt Mulls Banning Cigarettes For Future Generations

Health minister Lo Chung-mau said on Tuesday the government is considering completely banning future generations from buying tobacco products.

He said one of the ways to go about this would be to raise the minimum legal age for buying cigarettes, saying the government's goal is to keep young people from getting addicted to smoking.

The minister said the government may refer to the experience of other places when introducing further measures against smoking, adding officials will conduct a public consultation exercise on the matter.

"We may continuously legislate to raise the minimum legal age for buying tobacco products, so that our future generations will stay away from tobacco products forever," he said in a speech at a seminar on tobacco control.

Lo said the city's smoking rate is at 9.5 percent at the moment – down from 23 percent in the early 1980s.

In order to achieve the government's target of 7.8 percent or lower in 2025, he said more proactive measures are needed to deter people from smoking.