The third most dangerous person in the world to some people has been given an honorary doctorate by the University of Edinburgh. Dr Judith Mackay, who has lived for decades in a hidden-away house near Clearwater Bay School, was honoured by her alma mater.
Judith has traveled incessantly exhorting the most powerful people in Asian countries to tackle “the legalised health terrorism” of tobacco corporations looking for huge profits from exploiting Asians, Professor Raj Bhopal said in his laureate address. She has infuriated the tobacco barons to the extent that protection was offered by the Hong Kong police.
Yorkshire-born Judith graduated from the university in 1966. Shortly after she married Dr John Mackay and moved to Hong Kong. At first she too worked as a doctor, becoming a full-time unpaid campaigner against smoking in 1984. Judith set up the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health where she worked alongside the late Professor Tony Hedley and others. In 1990 she founded the Asian Consultancy on Tobacco Control. Michael Bloomberg, a backer of public health measures against smoking, brought Judith into his team recently.
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