Campaign to stop violation of non-smoking zones
ABOUT TWO-THIRDS of the designated non-smoking areas saw people puffing cigarettes despite the risk of a Bt2,000 fine, especially at markets, bus terminals and stadiums, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) said yesterday.
As of last year, Thailand had 10.8 million smokers.
ThaiHealth manager Krisada Reung-areerat has launched a campaign urging volunteers to reclaim the non-smokers’ right and to reduce second-hand smoking by 10 per cent. The campaign comprises making available no-smoking stickers, a phone application (available from Friday) to let people check-in and post photos of no-smoking areas at www.nonsmokersright.com, and a TV ad to be launched today.
The foundation and Mahidol University’s Institute for Population and Social Research did a survey on 2,089 people aged 15-64 from February to March and found two-thirds of the no-smoking areas were violated. The most violated places were market (73.61 per cent), transport hubs and bus stops (72.66 per cent) and stadiums (67.88 per cent).
Only 45 per cent of the people were aware of areas where smoking is banned while 46 per cent said they saw no-smoking signs at such areas.