[Intl-tobacco] Hong Kong: Industry donation to anti-smoking group

[Robert Weissman]

$20m donation fells anti-smoking chief

by QUINTON CHAN and PATSY MOY
HONG KONG;
Source: South China Morning Post, 2001-10-31KEY QUOTES:

The head of an influential parents' organisation is preparing to
quit as chairman of a newly formed anti-smoking group after
criticism that it accepted a $20 million donation from the tobacco
industry.

Tik Chi-yuen, chairman of the Committee on Home-School Co-operation,
said he would like to avoid a conflict of interest, even though he
insisted there was no problem in the new anti-smoking group
receiving sponsorship from tobacco companies.

However, another member, Dr Chow Chun-pong, has quit because of
public pressure. It is understood some of his senior medical
colleagues had spoken to him and urged him to think again about the
post. Dr Chow did not return calls yesterday.

The anti-smoking group, the Committee on Youth Smoking Prevention,
is to be formed next month for a three-year campaign. It has an
office in Kowloon Bay.

But other anti-smoking groups, led by the Hong Kong Council on
Smoking and Health, say its committee members - including Mr Tik -
would bear a social responsibility if the tobacco industry used the
programme to water down an amendment to smoking laws to be tabled in
Legco next year. The amendment includes a ban on smoking in all
indoor public areas and a tightening of tobacco advertising and
sponsorship.

Council chairman Professor Anthony Hedley said Mr Tik should resign
from the post without delay or he would continue to become a
"puppet" of the tobacco industry.

"It is a serious error of judgment by Mr Tik to accept the post. No
one should agree to work in this way with the tobacco industry,"
Professor Hedley said.

Mr Tik said he was now looking for a successor. "I don't want to
argue with them endlessly. I hope this will lay the controversy to
rest," he said.

Mr Tik, a former Democratic Party legislator, said he had also been
under pressure from his family after a newspaper printed a picture
of them along with the criticism.

But he said it was ethical for the new group to take tobacco money.
"A lot of charity groups receive money from the Jockey Club," he
said. "This practice of donations from tobacco companies for
anti-smoking campaigns is very common in Western countries.

"This new group is open to donations from all other sources. We are
independently operated and we didn't thank them for their donation.
This $20 million is for social resources, I don't see any reason why
we should not take it," he said.

Peter Tam, executive director of the Tobacco Institute of Hong Kong,
said there was no hidden agenda behind its donation.

"We will not intervene in the group's operations. We know cigarettes
are a sensitive product and we oppose youth smoking. We just want to
show we are marketing tobacco in a responsible way," he said.