Tobacco harmful to health, environment: WHO

People ride bicycles that carry banners calling on others to give up smoking. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Hanoi (VNA) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended Vietnam impose higher tax on tobacco to encourage smokers to quit and prevent adolescents from picking up this harmful habit.

Smoking tobacco is harmful to people’s health as well as the environment, underlined Acting Chief Representative of the WHO in Vietnam Dr Socorro Escalante during a ceremony in Hanoi on May 28 to mark World No Tobacco Day (May 31) and a national no tobacco week (from May 25 to 31). 

The event was jointly arranged by the Ministry of Health and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee.

Eight million deaths globally each year

The WHO statistics showed that smoking is responsible for more than eight million deaths across the globe each year. Of the number, in excess of 7 million people are smokers and about 1.2 million passive smokers. 

The production of tobacco pollutes the air, water, soil, beaches and streets with chemical substances, toxic waste, tobacco filters and microplastics. 

Tobacco cultivation worsens deforestation, especially in developing countries. About 3.5 million ha of soil is destroyed each year to grow tobacco and 600 million trees cut down for tobacco materials. 

The acting chief representative went on to say that tobacco has a role to play in climate change and reduce resilience. The tobacco industry generates 84 million tonnes of CO2, contributing to global warming and destruction of ecosystems, as well as air pollution. 

Acting Chief Representative of the WHO in Vietnam Dr Socorro Escalante speaks at the event (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Data in 2013 and the most recent one in 2019 indicated that the rate of students trying to smoke fell to 8.3 percent from 12.1 percent, while that of smokers among students 2.8 percent from 5.4 percent.

Difficulties remain

Speaking at the ceremony, Associate Professor Dr Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Ministry of Health’s Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, and Director of the Vietnam Tobacco Control Fund (VNTCF), said that smokers are more likely to suffer from medical complications triggered by COVID-19 than their non-smoking counterparts.

In addition to harmful effects on health, the use of tobacco causes economic losses to individuals, families and the society, as it generates tobacco costs, medical bills for tobacco-related diseases and even reduces the ability to work due to sickness and early death.

Khue cited a survey on smoking among adults, which showed that the ratio of adult men who smoked decreased from 45.3 percent in 2015 to 42.3 percent in 2020.

The rate of passive smoking was also down significantly from 42.6 percent to 30.9 percent in the workplace, and from 59.9 percent to 56 percent during that time. The number of patients who successfully quit smoking from 2017 to 2020 was 1,111.

A survey conducted by the WHO on student health behaviour in 2019 showed the smoking rate among students aged 13-17 decreased from 5.36 percent in 2013 to 2.78 percent in 2019, while the percentage of students who tried tobacco products decreased from 12.1 percent to 8.3 percent.

However, Khue said there remain many challenges in the prevention and control of tobacco harms, including the increase of new tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and shisha.

Associate Professor Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Ministry of Health’s Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, and Director of the Vietnam Tobacco Control Fund (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Associate Professor Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Ministry of Health’s Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, and Director of the Vietnam Tobacco Control Fund (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Escalante emphasised that many tasks remain to lower such ratios, pledging that the WHO will continue to support the Vietnamese Government in the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. 

The health organisation is calling on Vietnamese policy makers to build stricter regulations that require tobacco companies to be liable for economic and environmental costs from tobacco product waste./.