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Sponsorship by tobacco industry
Following is a question by Dr the Hon Huang Chen-ha and a written reply by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
Regarding the issue of dissuading young people from smoking, will the Government inform this Council whether :-
Reply:
(a)
(b)
(c)
Mr President,
it is aware of the number of young people smokers and the amount of expenditure incurred by them on smoking in each of the past three years;
it is aware of the number of sports and cultural activities sponsored by the tobacco industry and the total amount of such sponsorship for the past three year; if so, what the respective figures are; and
it will set up a health promotion fund to take the place of the tobacco industry in sponsoring the above activities so as to cultivate a positive influence on young people who may then cut down on smoking?
Since 1982, cigarette smoking pattern surveys have been conducted regularly by the Census and Statistics Department as part of the General Household Survey. This shows that the smoking population in Hong Kong has declined over the years. According to the latest survey which covered the period August-September 1993, about 16,600 people aged 15-19 were daily smokers. This represented 4.2% of the relevant population group. In July 1990, the figures were 20,600 and 4.6% respectively. It should be noted, however, that since smoking is not a socially-accepted behaviour, these statistics may be subject to under-reporting.
The survey did not seek information on individual smoking expenditure. Nevertheless, the total can be estimated from survey data about the average number of cigarettes smoked. In 1993, we estimate that young people spent about $70 million on cigarettes (at an average price of $23 per packet), compared with about $47 million in 1990 (at an average price of $12.50 per packet.