Number of Thai smokers up 21% despite 50,000 deaths last year

[webfact]

WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY
Number of Thai smokers up 21% despite 50,000 deaths last year
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- STATISTICS released on World No Tobacco Day revealed 50,000 people die each year due to smoking, yet the number of smokers rose rose by as much as 21 per cent last year.

Her Royal Highness Princess Soamsawali opened World No Tobacco Day 2015 at Future Park Rangsit in Pathum Thani yesterday. The fair was held by the Public Health Ministry to warn of the dangers of smoking and encourage new tobacco laws.

Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin and other high-ranking officials in the ministry also attended the fair to greet HRH Princess Soamsawali.

The National Statistical Office revealed the number of Thais over 15 years old who were smoking had risen to 11.4 million in 2014; the total surged by 21 per cent from 2013 and every year there are 50,000 deaths related to smoking.

The statistics also showed that the average age of new smokers dropped to 15.6 years of age - from 16.8 years old in 2007. The number of smokers who are younger than 18 was around 400,000; and 100,000 youths were becoming new smokers annually. Seven in 10 of the new smokers would be addicted to tobacco for the rest of their lives.

The World No Tobacco Day fair this year in Thailand concentrated on supporting the new tobacco product control bill as this modernised law will prevent the younger generation from access to tobacco products.

HRH Princess Soamsawali also issued World No Tobacco Day Awards to people or organisations who devoted themselves to supporting tobacco control.

The top award winner this year was the tobacco product control law consultant team that played a major role in reforming, developing and enforcing the latest tobacco product regulations.

The team consisted of Assist Prof Pokpong Srisanit, Assist Prof Sawatree Suksri, Assist Prof Aur-aree Ungchanin and Pumin Butin.

Her Royal Highness also awarded the Regional Director's Appreciation Award to Dr Wanchat Supachaturath, consultant to the Confederation of Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania, for his contribution to controlling smoking and tobacco products in Thailand and the region.

No Smoking Day included academic |exhibitions, medical consulting for quitting smoking and activities intended to publicise the effects of smoking and its dangers to |others.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Number-of-Thai-smokers-up-21-despite-50000-deaths--30261353.html


-- The Nation 2015-06-01

[bangkokheat]

good to see the price hike and warnings on packaging is working a treat

[ezzra]

Nature and humanity's way to cull the over population's issue I guess...

plus the thinking of that it's not going to happened to me...

[bristolgeoff]

from what I,ve seen in Thailand a lot of thais smoke along with farangs.smoking is everywhere and they have no reason to stop.i have a friend in chiang mai lived there many years.he smokes like a chimmey and has no intention of stopping when he is at the bar or else where I think.so it will always be high

[stoli]

I don't understand the irregulartites in this report. I can understand if they said cigarette sales were up 21% this year, but not that they can tell me that 21% more people smoke this year. Also, in the same article they say the Top Award went to the group of gentlemen that have written new anti-smoking laws! It would seem that whatever they did, it was to increase smoking, not eliminate it. This is like the sales team that declined the most in dollar volume last year receives the top award for sales. Make no sense to me. No need to answer with Thai bashing please. I am just trying to understand the article.

[SuwadeeS]

The logic behind smoking is strange and crazy.

Smoking people are paying money to buy something and pretend to enjoy it, to destruct their health.

Isn't there enough air pollution??

[williemiller]

While hundreds of thousands have stopped smoking in the UK and USA due to e-cigs which are tenfold times less harmful, Thailand decides to ban them - go figure !!!

[aussiandrew]

The tobacco company's are working hard to increase the consumption of cigarettes in Asia as the first world nations are reducing sales of cigarettes. I don't smoke, so in order to avoid the horrible stinky smell while dinning out we try to dine out earlier before the smokers come out. It does not always work and not point getting angry sometimes you just can't win.

[flyingdoc]

I am continually surprised by the number of people who profess to really want to quit smoking but don't know how to. When it comes to reality, do they REALLY want to give up? There is an absolutely certain way to give up smoking seriously, if genuine? That is Zyban which should be taken under medical advice, but is is certain and immediate. Just how serious are people about actually giving up?

[DM07]

What? You are telling me, the pictures didn't help?

[shaurene]

The Asian COUNTRYS on each other's borders have to get together, they have to increase the tax like the West so the young Thais and young people in all the Asian COUNTRYS just cannot afford to buy fags, that's it. They can buy a pack for less than 40baht, Phillapines less. My wife has little shop here in KHon KAEN and she sells fags in little pack of 3,3,4 & 5's.

The governments need to hike the tax for a packet to cost around 3-400 baht and use the tax to vastly improve the medical facility's for it's people. But unfortunately we would see a lot of the money shimmed off in the corruption game.

[Scott]

Thailand has always been a country with a lot of smokers. I doubt that the numbers are up by 21%, but I would guess that the number who are buying manufactured cigarettes may be up by 21%. A lot of the lower social echelon rolled their own and some, I believe, grew their own tobacco. I notice fewer and fewer people rolling their own cigarettes these days.

Reducing smoking is a complex issue and just knowing it is harmful is not quite enough. Usually as a population ages, they get a little more health conscious and with that comes the quitting of smoking. In Thailand it's a little harder because it's pretty easy to go outside and have a smoke. In some harsher climates, it's less attractive.

[shaurene]

I am continually surprised by the number of people who profess to really want to quit smoking but don't know how to. When it comes to reality, do they REALLY want to give up? There is an absolutely certain way to give up smoking seriously, if genuine? That is Zyban which should be taken under medical advice, but is is certain and immediate. Just how serious are people about actually giving up?

Tried it, does not work on me have you tried it to know what you are talking about or are you just one of these big Pharma believers on their tricks and lies.

[dageurreotype]

I am continually surprised by the number of people who profess to really want to quit smoking but don't know how to. When it comes to reality, do they REALLY want to give up? There is an absolutely certain way to give up smoking seriously, if genuine? That is Zyban which should be taken under medical advice, but is is certain and immediate. Just how serious are people about actually giving up?

Is Alan Carr's The Easy Way To Stop Smoking available in Thai? If not, it should be.

[h90]

The logic behind smoking is strange and crazy.

Smoking people are paying money to buy something and pretend to enjoy it, to destruct their health.

Isn't there enough air pollution??

people drink alcohol....paying money enjoy it and destruct their health

people watch TV...paying money enjoy it and loose their time

It is human....

[h90]

I am continually surprised by the number of people who profess to really want to quit smoking but don't know how to. When it comes to reality, do they REALLY want to give up? There is an absolutely certain way to give up smoking seriously, if genuine? That is Zyban which should be taken under medical advice, but is is certain and immediate. Just how serious are people about actually giving up?

Is Alan Carr's The Easy Way To Stop Smoking available in Thai? If not, it should be.

If someone want to stop smoking, the easiest way is to just stop smoking.......Don't light a cigarette

[glasswort]

If, despite all the health warnings and nasty pictures on cigarette packets, people continue to smoke then so be it. Incidentally I doubt very much if smokers actually look at or identify with the pictures.

If you really want to give up smoking it is the easiest thing in the world to do. Over sixty years ago I quit as a 60+ a day teenager and once I had made up my mind to stop it was easy.

[Halion]

I was a smoker for over 30 years and at the weekend could consume 2 packs per day. Have not had a cigarette for 8 months and do not intend to revert to smoking. Do I feel better as a result,? cleaner mouth in the mornings and that is about all.

So much emotion is put into cigarette pollution that it is rather lame as are those who complain profusely about smokers polluting their air.

For those living in Bangkok you have far more to worry about than cigarette pollution. Taxi's, buses lorry's ,vans, trucks and cars are poisoning the air daily.

Go down the Eastern Seaboard and look at the control on industrial emissions air, water and soil. Almost non existent.

And then my pet hate in this country Noise pollution from every perceivable area. It is truly shocking, stressful and in the most part totally unnecessary yet it is rampant in every aspect of Thai Life.

Happiness to the people, make a lot of noise so that they cant think.

[vogie]

The logic behind smoking is strange and crazy.

Smoking people are paying money to buy something and pretend to enjoy it, to destruct their health.

Isn't there enough air pollution??

people drink alcohol....paying money enjoy it and destruct their health

people watch TV...paying money enjoy it and loose their time

It is human....

Yes but I don't think the fumes off a television effects other peoples health?

[Kiwi1]

Nicotine is a wonder drug. It calms you when agitated and energises you when you are feeling down.

The problem is the delivery system in the form of cigarettes or pipes which not only deliver the nicotine but a vast number of other substances nearly all of which are bad for your health.

As well as death or disease suffered by smokers themselves research shows that people around smokers also suffer impaired health.

And a significant number of deaths result from fires accidentally started by smokers.

Nicotine is probably the most addictive substance known and once addicted smokers have great difficulty quitting.

The Twelve Step programme from Alcoholics Anonymous is a good guide to dealing with any addiction, including addiction to cigarettes.

If trying to quit smoking it is important to keep away from tobacco smoke, as breathing it will start you off again.

Hence try to get people around you to help by not smoking themselves, and you must keep out of places where there is tobacco smoke in the air, and be prepared to ask people to stop smoking when they are around you.

Getting your environment smoke free is probably the single most important action you can take to give up smoking.

Work on identifying yourself as a non smoker.

It is well understood that relapses are normal when trying to conquer an addiction, so if you do relapse, just take it as one of those things and keep on keeping smoke free.

As for public policy. There has been lots of work done and significant progress can only be done by introducing a host of interventions, from pricing, stopping advertising and forbidding smoking in public places. In countries where there has been significant success in reducing smoking relatively few higher status males smoke any longer. There has been less success stopping young females from smoking.

We should give credit for the effort the Thai government has made to reduce smoking in recent years.

[Yunla]

I would like to see their obvious concern over the dangers of smoking, extended to the dangers of over-spraying pesticides and other toxic chemicals on fruit and veg. Some of the reports in the Thai press said that over two hundred times the accepted safe limit of pesticides were found on fruit and veg, including many chemicals that are banned in other nations. These chemicals reportedly cause cancer, as well as damaging the endocrine system, and affecting developing brains, and harming unborn babies.

Since we all have to eat fruit and veg, I would see this as much higher priority for safety regulation than cigarettes, which are a personal lifestyle choice.

[PeCeDe]

I'm a smoker and probably will never quit. Learned to smoke at 13 in Switzerland many years ago. I was in a bar together with a bunch of schoolfriends (my age tells you how many years ago!) when a pretty girl hired by "Cool" cigarettes came around offering free cigarettes to anyone that would take them... I fell hook, line and sinker! If you've got twenty minutes here's a link you may want to watch. It's humorous but deadly serious. John Oliver is trying to show what a disgusting bunch of criminals the cigarette "Barons" are. Hope the link works.

https://youtu.be/6UsHHOCH4q8

[Kiwi1]

PS: After quitting smoking it will probably take at least a year for health benefits to show up, unless you are on an exercise program and monitoring your fitness. Even so it can take considerable time to clear your system.

Also for the first year or so the ex smoker is vulnerable to relapse and needs to keep away from smokers.

As for tobacco being just another one of a host of airborne pollutants, the fact is that smokers are more sensitive to these pollutants than no smokers.

While there are a host mental and behavioural techniques that can and do assist quitting smoking, IMHO the first priority is work on the personal environment so there are no cigarettes around and no tobacco smoke in the air.

[Ludwigdd]

There not just killing the self , the killing also all the people around them , there should be no smoking at any public place off 500 feet . Every restaurant the smoking farang and Thais .

And you can't even sue them .

Any one smoking in restaurants or bars . Should pay a 50,000.00 penalty .

Or 1 year prison

[MaxiJaz]

People complain that shops sell cigarettes in 3,4,5s but there is the theory that by buying in smaller numbers means you smoke less compared to buying in packs of 20's

[maidee]

only 50.000 ?

why not start : if you are a smoker, no free health care ...

[alant]

The logic behind smoking is strange and crazy.

Smoking people are paying money to buy something and pretend to enjoy it, to destruct their health.

Isn't there enough air pollution??

Pretend to enjoy it???

[Grusa]

Apart from government revenue considerations, I see no reason why the problem cannot largely be solved overnight. Simply outlaw the import, manufacture, wholesale distribution, advertising, retail sale of and sponsorship related to, all tobacco products. Now!

Also criminalise the use of tobacco products, and make available cheap nicotine substitutes under medical supervision, for those who are truly addicted.

If there really are medicinally beneficial products to be derived from tobacco, permit processing under existing pharmaceutical regulations as exist for opiates, cocaine derivatives, etc., but ensure there is no "pot of gold" for Big Pharma and the Medical Mafia.

As there are sure to be cartels to take up the vacuum, set fines for trafficking and distribution adequate to offset the loss of tax revenue!

[LarryBird]

It's funny, I was marveling last night at how many people were smoking at the bar I was at. I've been here for 9 years, back then it seemed rare to see a Thai smoking, ESPECIALLY a proper Thai lady.. Now, I feel like it's quite common..

[konying]

I am a smoker, would it not be wiser to force tobacco companies to remove chemicals , instead of wasting money amd trying to get people to quit