The Director of SEATCA, BungonRitthiphakdee acknowledged the lengths that Vietnam has gone to havethe law entered onto the country’s statute book.
Accordingto the World Health Organisation, Vietnam remains one of the top 15countries in the world to have the highest numbers of smokers.
Every year, more than 40,000 Vietnamese die of smoking relateddiseases. The cost of treating diseases caused by smoking, such as lungcancer, coronary and respiratory problems is over 1 trillion VND (48million USD) every year.
The 13 th National Assembly passed the Law on Tobacco Control on June 18 during its current session.
So far, every member of ASEAN, except Cambodia and Indonesia , have introduced laws to control the use of tobacco.-VNA