New legislation needed to keep Thai teens away from smoking

Before they know it, though, they are hooked on a habit that will not only damage their health in the years to come but also knock years off their life. 

Despite what the tobacco companies might say, smoking leads to a wide range of problems including lung cancer, emphysema and coronary heart disease. And that is definitely not cool.

Legislation and anti-smoking campaigns over the last two decades have helped reduce the number of young smokers here in Thailand with figures going from 12.26 million in 1991 people to 11.4 million in 2011. But teens are still lighting up.

A survey conducted by the National Statistic Office in 2013 records a population of 15-year-olds and over of 54.8 million. Of these, 11.4 million are smokers. Males addicted to tobacco far outnumber females and indeed the rate of male smokers has increased from 39 to 40.5 per cent and the age at which they start has fallen from 16.2 years to 15.6 years, with some kids reporting having smoked their first cigarette at age eight.

These statistics reflect the need to revise the regulations and control acts already in place as well as increase support for the production of Bupropion, a medication that has been successful in helping people stop smoking by reducing cravings and other withdrawal effects.

The anti-smoking lobby continues to urge the Public Health Ministry to adjust the Tobacco Products Control Act 1992 and Non Smokers’ Health Protection Act of the same year, which are now badly out of date and failing to prevent tobacco use. Meanwhile, the tobacco industry is constantly developing new market strategies to lure young people, among them the use of “Pretties” to introduce new products, social media campaigns, attractive packaging and even new flavours.

Today, more than 2,000 websites illegally advertise and sell tobacco products. Age restriction is a joke and smokers under the age of 18 are free to buy cigarettes on the Internet. 

Dr Waranit Lumyai, who is in charge of the Trendy Activity Project, is a strong advocate of a new Tobacco Products Control Act to protect children and adolescents.

“We are campaigning for a new Act that will respond to the situation today. If the new one is enacted, teenagers’ demand for tobacco will be reduced and we should be able to control the number of early smokers. A reduction of even 100,000 a year would substantially decrease the annual economic losses of Bt15.8 billion related to smoking,” he says. 

The Finance Ministry’s revenues from excise tax on tobacco and tobacco products currently amounts to some Bt60 billion annually. Of this, 39 per cent is obtained from imported cigarettes and the remaining 62 per cent from domestic income. Tobacco farmers have several channels through which to distribute their crops from selling to the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, presently valued at about Bt1.6 billion and through exports (Bt2.25 billion). 

“Farmers won’t get hurt if we are successful in reducing the domestic demand. They have time to study other forms of cultivation that are not harmful to the health,” he says.

“Under the new Tobacco Products Control Act, all parties are obligated to respect and follow what is written in the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), to which Thailand and other 178 countries are signatories. We in the Trendy Activity Project team consider it absolutely vital to set new trends for teenagers and we will be expanding our network to push for the new Tobacco Products Control Act. We care for the health of the Thai people and we want to help our country’s economy as much as we can.

Dr Pijitpong Suntornpipit, a professor at Mahidol University’s Public Health faculty agrees.

“There are more than 100 organisations pushing for the new Tobacco Products Control Act. Without it, we cannot fight against the multi-national tobacco giants and transnational tobacco dealers who tell our young Thais how cool it is to smoke. We can see with our own eyes that young people are not in the least reluctant to start smoking. The early smokers get younger by the year.

“Teen smokers here now number 1.67 million and 80 per cent of these students can still buy a single cigarette. The Asean Economic Community comes into force at the end of this year yet Thailand has failed to issue strong regulations on tobacco consumption. Our Asean neighbours like Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei have all been implementing strong Tobacco Products Control Acts for a long time, including a ban on selling single cigarettes. Why do we take our kids’ health for granted? Don’t we want them to be our future? Dr Pijitpong concludes.