Thailand: Groups back moves to block smoking

[webfact]

ANTI-SMOKING CAMPAIGN
Groups back moves to block smoking
The Nation



BANGKOK: -- About 450 organisations have combined forces to champion a tobacco-free society and back the Public Health Ministry's move to expand the warning graphic on cigarette packs.

Somsri Paosawat, president of the Health Professional Network for Tobacco-free Thai Society, said yesterday that the health advocacy organisations came together after international tobacco companies tried to stall the ministry's measure to increase the warning pictures to 85 per cent of the packet surface from 55 per cent.

The cigarette makers succeeded in petitioning for an Administrative Court injunction against implementation of |the measure scheduled for today.

Besides campaigning for awareness of the truth about the measure and tobacco's harmful effects on health, the confederation also aims to fight against multinational companies' intervention in state policies.


-- The Nation 2013-10-02

[theblether]

I know of two Thais that have stopped smoking recently as they can't afford it. That seems to be the only effective way of dealing with smoking, taxation.

The shock of the photos seems to wear off. Having said that, I understand how difficult it is to quit, whatever can be done to stop kids from starting in the first place has to be encouraged.

[ukrules]

Electronic cigarettes are the future. If the governmet unban the sale of liquid nicotine in Thailand it will really take off and potentially replace the cigarette industry.

It's already happening elsewhere. Only recently (last day or two) a huge American tobacco company Lorillard purchased a British e-cigarette company for $49 Million with further large cash payments in a few years time should certain sales targets be met. They are not the first traditional tobacco company to buy up smaller but rapidly growing electronic cigarette manufacturers.

Why ? They know the writing is on the wall and an unstoppable disruption is in motion. It won't be long before we see the first country completely ban cigarettes in favour of e-cigarettes. That first country could well be Australia but only time will tell.

The reason : cigarettes are dying out due to new technology which is of course banned on Thailand.

My prediction is that within the next 5 years or so nearly every smoker will be using electronic cigarettes. People are changing over at an exopnential rate.

Edited October 2, 2013 by ukrules

[hanno]

Of course electronic cigarettes are just as bad as the real thing......

Raise the price to USD 25.00 like in Oz and a lot less people will smoke.

[cacruden]

Just ban the product.

[yougivemebaby]

I remember the joy I felt when I went to a huge club/bar in Chicago after they banned smoking everywhere. It was easy to breathe. I had a much better time and I didn't smell like a$$tray after I left. Occasionally I would partake of the evil cigarette when I would drink. Making the other 95% that don't smoke inhale it is just silly. Go outside <deleted>. I would like to see this happen in Thailand. Smoking is not cool anymore. It's is so 2490's (1950's)

[Joe Mamma]

I love being a non smoker! since i quit i feel so much better and am so free now. If i can quit the coke and heroin next i will really be cruising.

[kuiburi]

Of course electronic cigarettes are just as bad as the real thing......

Raise the price to USD 25.00 like in Oz and a lot less people will smoke.

Just push up the price ? create another illegal market , more crime ? and for Thailand probably more tea money for our dear B.I.B

[kuiburi]

Just ban the product.

Just ban all moralists from the world .

[kuiburi]

I remember the joy I felt when I went to a huge club/bar in Chicago after they banned smoking everywhere. It was easy to breathe. I had a much better time and I didn't smell like a$$tray after I left. Occasionally I would partake of the evil cigarette when I would drink. Making the other 95% that don't smoke inhale it is just silly. Go outside <deleted>. I would like to see this happen in Thailand. Smoking is not cool anymore. It's is so 2490's (1950's)

Last time i went to a pub in Amsterdam , the bar was almost empty , no smoking allowed , then i discovered the smoking room all in the back . In there it was partytime it was packed with smokers and non smokers because it had the great old fashion atmospfere .

So if u go to Amsterdam enjoy a boring time at the smokefree bar .

since mankind discovered fire they smoke . Before that , they had the papyrusplant and Tobacco , but no fire yet , that must have been a hell of a time .

[bigbamboo]

Just ban the product.

Like the Americans did with Prohibition you mean?

Yeah, that really worked!

[kuiburi]

If governments arround the globe had put all there excize taks they got on Tobacco in reseach for Healthcare there would be many more cures for many diseases .

[keestha]

Smokers should be given the chance to indulge in their habit without bothering non smokers. It is better if there is a smokers corner in places like shopping malls, airports and hospitals. If there is none, the smokers will create their own illegal smokers corner, where the ground is littered with cigarette buts.

Give us a break. Smoking is not the only habit which might bother other people. I only learned to drive a car when I was 46, because it had become necessary for business purposes. Before that, all these people driving around often without necessity bothered me a lot. Cars pollute the air and endanger pedestrians/bicyclists. Non smokers, am I right in assuming that you always leave the car/motorcycle at home when you can also use the public transport, walk, or ride a bicycle?

Stop the bloody witch hunt.

Edited October 2, 2013 by keestha

[cup-O-coffee]

In the entire cheme of things, and considering which issues in the public eye are pressing, and which issues are not pressing; I would have to rate this issue as not very pressing.

The groups who are trying to ban smoking are basically telling people what they can and cannot do on a personal basis. The merits for which they claim as reasons to ban smoking could conceivably be applied to just about everything humans do on a personal basis; but the point being that they summarily dismiss other issues and focus instead on smoking. This is the flaw in today's "special interest" groups. They get a little too overblown on their preconceived notions about what is special to take an interest in, and fail to see everything else in the room.

Trying to clean up the world is a noble thing, but focusing on the issues that people choose on a personal basis, which are not really a hot item regarding cleaning up the world, and willingly neglecting those issues that outright harm, kill, murder, cheat, rob, oppress (etc.) human lives, is ludicrous.

How about those cute young things in the photos go elsewhere and badger and harass teens who murder, kill, maim, run in gangs, take drugs, deal drugs, rape, rob, steal, cause unwanted pregnancies, kill the babies they don't want, or leave them in rubbish bins, and all the other negative circumstances they burden society with?

That would be a far more noble purpose than taking away from someone perhaps the only thing in their day that allows them a few moments of stress relief and solitude.

True; smoking has its setbacks, and some of these posts have merit, but in the entire cheme of things, and considering which issues in the public eye are pressing, and which issues are not pressing; I would have to rate this issue as not very pressing.

[itchybum]

Excellent, hope one of the most disgusting habits on the planet, forced onto others by no choice of their own, but the selfish narrow mindedness of smokers, is banned somehow forever from public space....all of it...and indoors anywhere.

[jmccarty]

Just ban it!

If it were a new product on the market and any government that new what is was allowed it, it would be the same thing as allowing kids to poison themselves. Which it already is.

[tingtongteesood]

It should be illegal to smoke in all public places. I get so pissed off with <deleted> blowing their evil death bringing chemicals in my face, I cough on them and tell them off telling them to smoke in their room and keep that crap to themselves. I hate having to run the gauntlet of idiots smoking outside on the way into buildings, this is wrong ! Bars and restaurants should have SEALED OFF smokjng areas IF THEY CHOOSE TO and shopping malls etc. could have designated smoking rooms again if they so choose. All public areas filled with many people a number of whom may not wish to get cancer should be off limits...

[Estrada]

I remember the joy I felt when I went to a huge club/bar in Chicago after they banned smoking everywhere. It was easy to breathe. I had a much better time and I didn't smell like a$$tray after I left. Occasionally I would partake of the evil cigarette when I would drink. Making the other 95% that don't smoke inhale it is just silly. Go outside <deleted>. I would like to see this happen in Thailand. Smoking is not cool anymore. It's is so 2490's (1950's)

Last time i went to a pub in Amsterdam , the bar was almost empty , no smoking allowed , then i discovered the smoking room all in the back . In there it was partytime it was packed with smokers and non smokers because it had the great old fashion atmospfere .

So if u go to Amsterdam enjoy a boring time at the smokefree bar .

since mankind discovered fire they smoke . Before that , they had the papyrusplant and Tobacco , but no fire yet , that must have been a hell of a time .

That is because in Amsterdam the go to the back bar to smoke Ganja!

[hanno]

I have no problems with smokers, used to smoke myself. More tolerance and consideration on both sides and all would be good.

[itchybum]

I have no problems with smokers, used to smoke myself. More tolerance and consideration on both sides and all would be good.

Absolutely not...take their filthy habit away from everyone.

Smoking rooms everywhere would be good, with windows onto the streets for people to look at and point.

Schools could do field trips past them.

They should pay to enter also so no financial burden to the city.

[Cats4ever]

Of course electronic cigarettes are just as bad as the real thing......

Raise the price to USD 25.00 like in Oz and a lot less people will smoke.

Spoken like a confirmed wowser.

Tax the things that you don't use; no taxes on the things you like.

Next will be alchohol. It is already underway to a degree.

Governments could set a date and make the sale of tobacco to people born after 1/1/1995 illegal.

Sure there would be ways around it, but it might make the statement that governments are really serious and not just penalising people who became used to the habit when it was the norm. Remember going to the GP and watching him have a smoke?

[belg]

don't you love the mommies & daddies, walking their children, pushing the buggy, with a cigarette in their hand or mouth ...

enjoying the fresh air

and don't you love those parents smoking and comming near your children

makes my blood boil

[soi41]

The only way "to block smoking" is trousers without zippers!!

[Bagwan]

Just ban the product.

Like the Americans did with Prohibition you mean?

Yeah, that really worked!

Didn't Kamnam Pho make make a few shekels smuggling cigarettes from Indonesia? Will a ban on tobacco products produce another Godfather? Wasn't prohibition in the US a factor in the emergence of the Kennedy's onto the World stage?

All of which is totally irrelevant to the argument.

Edited October 2, 2013 by Bagwan

[hanno]

Of course electronic cigarettes are just as bad as the real thing......

Raise the price to USD 25.00 like in Oz and a lot less people will smoke.

Spoken like a confirmed wowser.

Tax the things that you don't use; no taxes on the things you like.

Next will be alchohol. It is already underway to a degree.

Governments could set a date and make the sale of tobacco to people born after 1/1/1995 illegal.

Sure there would be ways around it, but it might make the statement that governments are really serious and not just penalising people who became used to the habit when it was the norm. Remember going to the GP and watching him have a smoke?

Absolutely not. I love my beer and used to smoke and thought even then that cigarettes should be taxed more. Either way the tax payer pays in the end and if it is for all the healthcare.

[Globeman]

Of course electronic cigarettes are just as bad as the real thing......

Raise the price to USD 25.00 like in Oz and a lot less people will smoke.

You are completely wrong about that... they aren't even close to as bad as the real thing - on several fronts. Where do you get your information?

[user82374298374]

Of course electronic cigarettes are just as bad as the real thing......

This is completely untrue, as even cursory use of a search engine would demonstrate.

Electronic cigarettes are essentially portable electric hookas. There is no fire, no ash, no smell to bother non-smokers. A cloud of water vapor is all that is exhaled, and it quickly dissipates. No fire hazard, because there's no fire.

There is no tar in the liquid utilized in e-cigarettes, nor any of the other 7,000 toxic chemicals added to regular cigarettes. These chemicals are designed to make regular cigarettes more addictive; as they aren't present in the liquid smoked in e-cigarettes, it's easier for someone smoking e-cigarettes to stop, if he so chooses. And the tar is what causes lung cancer (and other forms of cancer associated with smoking) - no tar = no cancer.

Personally, I've found that it's generally a good idea to have some actual knowledge of a given topic before opining about it in a public forum. But that's just me . . .

Edited October 2, 2013 by disambiguated

[Bagwan]

As far as I'm concerned this issue is about freedoms. The freedom to smoke on the one hand and the freedom to breathe clean air on the other. (Where in Bangkok, and to a lesser degree in Pattaya you go to breathe clean air I couldn't say.) The gulf between the two parties seems to be unbridgeable, same same between Reds and Yellows. Seems to me that a little tolerance needs to be exercised. What chance of that?

From the health of the population angle wouldn't it be better to apply resources to put an end to smokey diesel vehicles that pollute out of all proportion to cigarette smokers?

[pomchop]

smoking tobacco is the most addictive thing I have ever experienced to include a lot of other drugs....I used to suck down two to three packs a day everyday....nicotine is the only thing that would get me to leave my house at 4 am in a snowstorm to go buy more cigs because of the nicotine withdrawals....some rare people seem to be able to smoke a few a day without getting big time hooked but I was not one of them....as they say quitting is easy..I've done in hundreds of times...

FINALLY I got off the damn things about 15 years ago and when I look back on it now I am amazed at how difficult it was to quit....being able to go through a day without ONE time thinking about a cig fix is a WONDERFUL freedom...I used to think about lighting my next one before I had even finished the one I was smoking...I was so bad I would wake up several times a night and have to smoke a cig...It used to be pure hell getting on those long long flights with NO cigs....

Smoking these days is certainly hugely more expensive and more difficult than years ago. Now I really do not like to be around smokers as frankly it stinks and reminds me of what a digusting habit I once had.

Some smokers always will try and defend their habit by comparing it to other habits and blah blah about personal freedom. But for me it was exactly the opposite of personal freedom as I was a slave to the nicotine god...

The joy of being a non smoker is hard to describe unless you have or are addicted to nicotine as I certainly was.

As for the smokers puff away but IF IF you can figure out how to get off the damn things take it from a former big time addict that you will be very proud of yourself, you'll feel better, smell better, save a ton of money, not spend hours a day thinking about cigs, be a better model for any kids around you.

It IS possible to give them up and you may well be surprised how wonderful life without tobacco can be.

Good Luck.

[Bagwan]

I blame the Native Indians of the US. If they hadn't grown the bloody weed smoking tobacco wouldn't be a problem. That they lost all their lands to immigrant settlers serves them right. Just a Thai perspective. I look forward to a pressure group insisting that the Foreign Minister canvasses the UK to remove Walter Raleigh's knighthood.