*****************************
Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Cheng and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (May 23):
Question:
As there are cases of overseas governments filing lawsuits against tobacco companies there, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it has collated details of the lawsuits filed in recent years by overseas governments and community organizations against tobacco companies there in relation to diseases caused by smoking; if so, of the details of each case in the past five years in which judgment was made in favour of the plaintiff(s), including the country where the lawsuit was filed, the plaintiff(s), the grounds for bringing the lawsuit and the court ruling;
(b) it is aware of the lawsuits filed in the past two years by the British Columbia Government in Canada against a number of tobacco companies there to recover the health care expenditure on diseases caused by smoking; if so, of the details; and
(c) it has assessed the amount of public health care expenditure spent in Hong Kong annually on diseases caused by smoking, and whether it will study the prospect of success in recovering the relevant expenditure through lawsuits against tobacco companies?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Government comes to know about the lawsuits filed by overseas governments against tobacco companies from public domain sources. Many of these lawsuits were instituted in recent years, now still pending the final outcomes. For details of these cases, please refer to the sources listed in the Annex.
(b) The Government knows from public domain sources that the British Columbia Government in Canada has filed lawsuits against tobacco companies for production, promotion and sale of tobacco products pursuant to The Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act since 2001. It is understood that the final outcomes of these lawsuits are still pending.
(c) The Government has not made any assessment on the public healthcare cost in Hong Kong on smoking-induced diseases. However, we believe that the significant extension of statutory smoking ban with effect from January 1, this year will help reduce passive smoking and smoking-related health hazards. According to the research findings published by the Department of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong in February 2005, it was estimated that the prevailing annual healthcare cost from tobacco use in Hong Kong amounted to $2.6 billion.
It has been the Government's tobacco control policy to seek, through a step-by-step approach, to contain tobacco use and minimise its impact on public health by adopting a wide array of measures comprising publicity, health education, taxation, legislation and law enforcement. To that end, sustained efforts will be made as necessary to enhance the tobacco control measures in the light of public demands. At this stage, the Government has no plan to control tobacco use through civil proceedings against tobacco sale.
Ends/Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Issued at HKT 13:01
NNNN
