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Tobacco industry targeting children, warns WHO head 2nd June 2008
The tobacco industry is targeting young teenagers in Viet Nam, warned
the World Health Organisation (WHO) ahead of World No Tobacco Day today.
WHO called on the Government to rigorously enforce the country’s
complete ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship
restrictions and to alert parents and youngsters to the ploys adopted by
marketing firms to get youngsters addicted to nicotine. "The tobacco
industry preys on young people’s vulnerability. They know that the young
underestimate the risk of becoming addicted to nicotine and the tragic
health consequences that will follow," said Dr Jean-Marc Olive, WHO
Representative in Viet Nam. "Cigarettes and tobacco products today come
in all kinds of flavours and scents. They are packaged in bright colours
that look more like sweets than a deadly substance," he said. Youngsters
are led to believe that certain types of cigarettes do not contain
nicotine, when in fact they do. These tactics, along with misleading
advertising campaigns encourage young people to smoke. The younger one
starts, the more difficult it is to stop. Most people in Viet Nam start
smoking before the age of 18, according to Olive.
Viet Nam has one of the highest rates of smoking in the world – 56 per
cent of male adults smoke and 32 per cent of males aged 15-24 smoke.
Each year, about 40,000 Vietnamese die from smoking-related illnesses.
"So far in Viet Nam the number of women smoking is still very low. But
we need to remain vigilant and ensure tobacco marketing doesn’t lure
young women into smoking," he said. Olive said the Government must
enforce the country’s complete ban on advertising and promotion of
tobacco products. He also said the Government should raise the tobacco
tax, ban the sale of individual cigarettes and restrict the sale of
tobacco to licensed retailers.
"On this World No Tobacco Day, I challenge all young people to say no to
smoking. I appeal to you all to protect our youth from tobacco’s harm
and break the grip of the tobacco marketing industry," Olive said.
Olive also congratulated the Ha Noi School of Public Health for winning
this year’s WHO World No Tobacco Day Award. The Ha Noi School won the
award for its research into the harmful effects of tobacco control
research and for demonstrating how a smoke-free university can be
achieved with the active participation of faculty and students.
Source: VNN
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