香港人少有留意美國的財政預算案，星期一公布的A Budget for a Better America：Promises Kept. Taxpayers First絕對值得一讀。面對政府赤字屢創新高，總統特朗普今屆預算案的主調是削減政府開支。除了節流，預算案還提到一項開源措施：
“The Budget includes a new user fee on e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery system products and proposes new FDA authority to collect user fees in support of its regulatory oversight of new tobacco and nicotine related products in the future as appropriate. The proposal would amend current law to add e-cigarette manufacturers and importers to a list of product categories subject to the user fee. The FDA’s annual user fee cap of $712 million would be increased by $100 million and future collections of all tobacco related products would be indexed to inflation. This proposal would ensure that FDA has the resources to address today’s alarming rise in youth e-cigarette use as well as new public health threats of tomorrow. New tobacco or nicotine products that are regulated by FDA should also pay a user fee, just as other tobacco related products that are subject to FDA’s user fee.
向電子煙、加熱煙及其他新型吸煙產品徵費，預料可為政府每年帶來1億美元的收入，這每年1億美元的收入，將給予食品及藥物管理局（FDA）更多資源去保護青少年健康。
剝削煙民選擇
理性看待電子煙及加熱煙等新型吸煙產品，是美國的控煙態度。煙商、市民、政府都想藉新科技產品改善吸煙帶來的問題。早前在《南華早報》亦見到英國控煙團體Action on Smoking and Health前負責人撰文，指責香港政府全禁所有新型吸煙產品做法有違保障公共衛生目標。香港的控煙團體，卻不務正業只管妖魔化煙商。說過了，英國最新的隨機實驗研究A Randomized Trial of E-Cigarettes versus Nicotine-Replacement Therapy發現，電子煙比尼古丁取代療法更有效幫助煙民戒煙。香港政府及反煙團體到今天卻仍以「現時亦未有足夠證據證明這些產品能幫助戒煙」為藉口自說自話，無疑是剝削煙民選擇較安全的替代品戒煙的權利，苦了煙民，又苦了二手煙民，更苦了公共衛生，何苦呢？
人類總是重覆同樣的錯誤。改變電動車首次登記稅，政府成功爭取柴油車替代電動車。全禁電子煙及加熱煙等新型吸煙產品，政府將更成功地爭取傳統煙替代電子煙！當政府發現加稅後電動車增幅近乎零，整體車輛數字卻持續上升，推出電動私家車「一換一」換車計劃是亡羊補牢，更多柴油車卻已在路上製造更多污染。陳肇始局長請想想，當你發現全禁電子煙加熱煙後，之前吸食這些新型吸煙產品的消費者統統轉吸傳統煙，整體吸煙率不跌反升，到時即使推出電子煙加熱煙「一換一」換煙計劃亡羊補牢，不論是煙民或非煙民吸入的一氧化碳，卻已在他們肺部製造更多污染。
原刊於《am730》，本社獲作者授權轉載。
