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Five deaths every hour attributed to tobacco use in Vietnam: WHO 

In Vietnam, tobacco use is responsible for 5 deaths every hour. That is 40,000 deaths each year, four times the number of people that die on the country’s roads each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The organisation on May 29 called on governments to use graphic pictures on tobacco products to show the frightening physical results of smoking.

The tobacco industry invest a large sum of money on designing attractive packages that makes a deadly product look safe and appealing. They also spend millions of dollars on advertising and promotional campaigns to divert attention from the deadly effects of its products and to lure new users and keep them from quitting.

To counter that effect, packets should show shocking photos of lung tumours, blood clots in the brain and decaying gums.

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National Non-Smoking Week to raise public awareness 

A national non-smoking week from May 25-31is held in response to World No-Tobacco Day on May 31.

Many activities, including a ban on smoking in public places and offices, will take place, according to Dr Ly Ngoc Kinh, director of the Ministry of Health's Medical Treatment Department, who spoke at a press meeting in Ha Noi on Monday.

He said meetings and demonstrations about the dangers of smoking would also be held along city streets.

Smoking is a serious health problem in Viet Nam, with 56 per cent of men smoking, one of the world's highest rates, according to Kinh.

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Around 40,000 Vietnamese die of cigarettes a year 

As one of the countries with the most male smokers, the number of cigarette-related deaths in Vietnam is four-fold the number of casualties from traffic accidents.

The Health Ministry’s Health Treatment and Examination Agency chief Ly Ngoc Kinh talked about the situation.

Government Decree 45 issued in 2005 stipulates a 50,000-100,000 dong fine for smoking in public sites. But it seems that this regulation is ineffective. What do you think about it?

It is impossible to implement this rule. We don’t lack regulations or sanctions on smoking, issued by the government and the Health Ministry, but they cannot be implemented effectively.

Not only in this field, in other areas people don’t obey the rules. . . .

Cigarette producers say that it is costly or they don’t have suitable technology to print warnings with images. But exported cigarette products have warnings with images. We will try to enforce this in 2010.

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• Tobacco boss jailed 

The former chairman of a tobacco manufacturer has been jailed for four-and-a-half years for bribery and fraud relating to the smuggling of cigarettes to the mainland. Lu Dayong - from Nanyang Brothers Tobacco - was earlier found guilty in the district court. He failed to turn up for trial - and was sentenced in his absence. The court heard that Nanyang Brothers supplied "Double Happiness" cigarettes to two firms, which smuggled them to the mainland through third countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam.

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• Toothless smoking ban needs enforcement 

"I can’t stand this anymore. They are being cruel not just to me, but also to my baby," said 25-year old Nguyen Thu Trang.

This scene is all too common, playing out in public places all over Viet Nam.

A number of smoking bans have been passed by the Government and relevant ministries. However these bans dictate neither a specific punishment nor which authorities are responsible for punishing infractions, said Nguyen Ba Bo, a judge of the Central Military Court.

In May 2007, the Prime Minister released a directive which banned smoking in public places like schools, health centres/hospitals, production centres, public transportation, libraries, bus stations, railway stations, airports, ports and indoor entertainment centres. . . .

However, none of these documents suggest how and who should fine the violators, said Bo.

Directive No 45, which was signed by the Prime Minister, is the only legal document which stipulates that fines between VND50,000-100,000 will be levied on people who smoke in public places.

The Government and relevant agencies need to release practical legal documents which regulate specific punishments and the agencies responsible for enforcing them, said Pham Hoang Anh, director of the HealthBridge Organisation’s representative office.

They release the documents but seem not to care if they are implemented in an effective way, said Hoang Anh.

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• Women: Cigarette smoking to lose weight? 

The cigarette smoking habit in female university female students has reached the high rate of 5.3 percent, a recent survey says.

The survey carried out by HealthBride of Canada of nearly 2,000 female participants under 25 in Hanoi and Thai Binh provinces shows that the rate is lower in high school and elementary schools.

Medical school students do not have much more knowledge than other students about the damage smoking causes to health, said the survey. . . .

Almost all women think smoking is a bad habit, but many say smoking helps them lose weight and relieve stress. Others say smoking is not harmful because they smoke cigarettes for females.

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• Cigarette smuggling on the rise in HCMC 

Cigarette smuggling in the city is increasing with instances of smugglers even attacking anti-smuggling forces, the market watchdog in the city has reported.

Over the last six months, market watchdog division 5B in District 5 has seized more than 60,000 packs of smuggled cigarettes and imposed penalties against smugglers in 54 cases.

The division is in charge of the area that hosts the city's largest cigarette trading spot - the eponymous market on Hoc Lac Street- where both certified and illegal cigarettes are frequently transacted.

Head of the market watchdog division 5B, Ngo Van Tung, said smugglers have resorted to violence to resist authorities who confiscate their cigarettes.

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Cigarette smuggling burns up Mekong Delta province  

Officials were pleased when tobacco smuggling was hampered by the rainy season - until industrious smugglers turned to using boats on the canals in the Cambodia-bordering province of Long An.

Vo Van Cuong, deputy police chief of Long An's My Quy Dong Commune, Duc Hue District, said traffickers transported the contraband by boats at speeds of 50 kilometers per hour, which is too quick for the underequipped local constabulary.

Though My Quy Dong is a "hot spot" for cigarette smuggling in the Mekong Delta province, commune police have seized only 2,000 packs of cigarettes so far this year.

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• Doctors urge men to stub out their cigarettes  

Even at the National Paediatrics Hospital, where every day scores of children arrive for bronchial check-ups, many fathers can be seen smoking in the waiting room.

A recent survey conducted by the Ha Noi School of Public Health on public perceptions about smoking reported that 100 per cent of respondents said that smoking was harmful to health.

However, the school's doctor Pham Quynh Nga said only one third of the survey's respondents knew that smoking resulted in diseases for smokers and second-hand smokers.

Another survey from the Viet Nam Consumer Protection and Standards Association reported that though most people agreed to the Government's ban on smoking in public places, only 37.4 per cent agreed to the ban in crowded, open-air settings.

"The survey's results prove the community's awareness about second-hand smoking is still inadequate. Government policies to enforce the country's ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship are limited," Do Gia Phan, the association's chairman, said.

Government Decree 45 has instituted fines of between VND50,000-VND100,000 for each violation, but as it stands, very few people have actually been fined. . . .

The country's health experts have warned that 8 million Vietnamese will die from smoking-related diseases by 2010 if the number of chain smokers doesn't fall.

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Cigarette smuggling a hotline target / HCMC Uni first to ban smoking  

The National Steering Committee for Anti-smuggling, Counterfeit and Trade Fraud officially launched a free hot line (1800.585855) nationwide to receive information relating to counterfeit cigarette production and cigarette smuggling.

According to the Viet Nam Cigarette Federation, there are more than 600 million cigarette packs smuggled into Viet Nam each year . . .

Smoking has been banned since last Sunday at the HCM City University of Industry

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Tobacco in Vietnam to 2011 - New Research Report on Companies and Markets 

This databook is a detailed information resource covering all the key data points on Tobacco in Vietnam. It includes comprehensive value volume segmentation and market share data. The databook supplies actual data to 2006 and full forecasts to 2011.

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Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City Red Cross goes green (and smokeless)  

Nguyen Thi Hue, the president of the Ho Chi Minh City chapter of the Vietnamese Red Cross (VNRC), believes smokers should set an example - by not smoking outside in public.

In effect, it's the opposite principle to the one that applies in the West, where the "smokers' huddle" outside big-city office buildings has become a much-discussed social phenomenon.

But Red Cross volunteers quietly get the "do it in private" message across to prosperous Vietnamese smokers whenever they can.

Madame Hue (as she's universally known) says that ideally nobody should smoke at all. But when it comes to cigarettes in Asia, and especially in a country where some hotels thoughtfully leave new packs in the rooms of arriving guests and nice clean ashtrays are a ubiquity in bars and restaurants, someone has to start somewhere. . . .

It's one example of the VNRC having to broaden its horizons to take up new challenges, she told the International Federation in an interview at the chapter headquarters.

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Children say no to smoking 

Van Ho Junior High School launched a competition on Tuesday in the capital looking for paintings by children, for children under the theme For an environment Without Tobacco Smoke.

The management board is hoping that children across the country will join the competition. Children from Hanoi and other northern provinces like Ha Tay and Hai Phong are already planning to make a giant painting (around 20m in length) to spread the word of the damaging effects of tobacco, according to Nguyen Thi Ha, head of the competition�?(TM)s management board.

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Non-smoking week launched 

A national non-smoking week, from May 25 to 31, was launched on May 24 by the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the World Health Organisation. . . .

In Vietnam, 56% of men and 1.8% of women are smokers. Young people account for 31% of the number of smokers. Smoking each year kills around 40,000 people.

Responding to the World Non-smoking Day, May 31, the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Public Health worked out measures to reduce the number of smokers in 2008.

Concretely, new legal documents will be issued while the education of damage caused by smoking will be promoted.

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• Vietnam calls for tobacco-free young generation 

Vietnam will launch a National Non-smoking Week from May 25-31 in an effort to raise public responsibility in protecting young people from the dangers of smoking.

A meeting was held in Hanoi on May 24 by the Health Ministry in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to mark World Non-smoking Day (May 31) and the National Non-smoking Week.

To achieve the target of the National Non-smoking Week, according to a Health Ministry official, ban should be imposed on all forms of advertisement, trade promotions and sponsorship by tobacco companies in addition to the introduction of policies, such as increasing retail prices and import tax and putting a ban on selling cigarettes to under-18 people.

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