Imposing a complete ban on e-cigarettes is one of a series of upcoming policies. It differs from other controversies, such as the MTR’s fare hikes, the readjustment of the three cross-harbour tunnels’ tolls or the predicaments in Tung Chung since the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge’s opening. A complete ban on a commercial product, whether it is harmful or not, is a direct move against the free-market economy.
Diocesan Girl’s School, the 29th champion team of the competition, were made the affirmative team against the opposition Heep Yunn School, the 30th champion team, as they put the motion under the debating microscope.
The affirmative
THE captain of the affirmative, Tania Chan (陳劭頤), started her speech with solid statistics: “According to the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, there were about 5,700 daily smokers who used electronic smoking devices in 2017.” She pointed out that 2.1 to 4.5 percent of this group were secondary students. “Some of these people have never tried smoking; they were first-time smokers. E-cigarettes provides an easy gateway to smoking.” She concluded that banning e-cigarettes would benefit society more than it would harm.
The second speaker of the affirmative team, Natalie Woo (胡鎧潼) said during her turn, “Leniency creates the faulty image of legitimacy.” She said failing to press hard on e-cigarettes would wrongly send a signal that “vaping is okay”. Woo added that due to the similarity between tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes, people who smoke e-cigarettes are highly likely to fall back to traditional cigarettes.
Woo rebutted arguments based on ‘freedom of choice’. “Freedom of choice is valid only if you have all the information you need to make an informed decision.” She said at the moment there is insufficient information to know for sure whether e-cigarettes are a healthier choice for young people. “Banning e-cigarettes removes incentives for young people to get addicted to smoking and prevents the issue from becoming a full-blown epidemic.”
The opposition
HEEP Yunn School, a former champion team, put up an excellent display of resilience against Diocesan Girl’s School. The captain of the opposition, Hayley Leung (梁倩兒), said in her speech, “The problem is really down to regulations, such as how the product is being marketed, and banning it outright will not solve the problem.”
The first speaker of the opposition, Jasmine Lo (羅兆茹), explained, “The complete ban is unjustified as there are so many other forms of indulgence on the market.” Indeed, alcohol and tobacco are not banned while the milder alternative, e-cigarettes, are completely forbidden for some reason. “And 28 percent of e-smokers were once traditional smokers; it does have a positive and tangible effect in assisting people to quit smoking,” Lo added.
The second speaker, Christie Yeu (余卓穎), reminded everyone that e-cigarettes do help traditional smokers to quit smoking. “We have a number of choices to quit smoking: nicotine patches, therapy and e-cigarettes. There is no real urgency to ban e-cigarettes completely.”
Winner : Diocesan Girl’s School
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L-R: Heep Yunn School captain Hayley Leung, first speaker Jasmine Lo and second speaker Christie Yeu.
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L-R: Diocesan Girl's School second speaker Natalie Woo, first speaker Dorothy Tan (陳㫬晴) and captain Tania Chan.
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