7.
All 106 brands of cigarettes carried on their packets and cartons a tar group designation as claimed by their manufacturers. However, 17 brands were found to have been labelled with tar groups inconsistent with the test findings - 7 brands should be in a higher tar group and 10 in a lower tar group.
"Manufacturers may continue to sell the cigarettes using the previous designation for a period of 12 months," the spokesman said.
Under the current legislation, if the determination of the Government Chemist for any brand of cigarettes differs by not more than one mg from the previous determination and has the effect of placing the cigarettes in a tar group other than that to which they would have belonged, the brand may continue to use its previous designation subject to the written approval of the Director of Health.
The spokesman said the Government is now proposing to amend the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance to lower the maximum permissible level of tar in cigarettes so as to reduce smokers' exposure to this harmful substance.
"The maximum permissible level we propose is 17 mg. Assuming that no new brands enter the market, five brands will be affected by the proposal. We also propose that cigarettes packages and advertisements should show the tar and nicotine yields instead of the tar group designation so that the smokers are better informed," he added.
End
RO study confirms trend in deteriorating visibility
The visibility in Hong Kong has deteriorated over the past three decades, a recent study carried out by the Royal Observatory shows. The deteriorating trend is particularly noticeable inside the Victoria Harbour in recent years, adversely affecting the viewing of this world-famous harbour from time to time.
The study used visibility observations made by trained weather observers of the Observatory from the late 1960s to early 1990s. In essence, it counted the number of hours when visibility was reduced to below 8 kilometres by dry suspended particles in the atmosphere. To eliminate weather-related events, the study did not count cases where visibility was impaired by weather elements, such as rain, fog, mist, or humid days when the relative humidity reached 95 % or higher.