This article reminds me that it is not for lack of legislation that tobacco smoking rates in Myanmar are increasing. There is no enforcement. Whose job is it to enforce legislative measures? The NLD-led government?

If "cigarettes are comparatively cheap in Myanmar" then raise the tax. More government revenue. Fewer smokers.

Chewing tobacco and smoking tobacco should not be conflated in reporting on tobacco use. It confuses people and inhibits action.

Jamie

++++++++++++++++++

Quit smoking. It kills!
Aung Pyae Phyo
Myanmar Times
21 December 2018

SMOG smog everywhere! Public places are not spared. Nicotine fog in bus-stops and paedestrian crowds, cigarette haze in the teashop chat and cigarettes on the fingertips of adolescents are typical scenes in Myanmar nowadays.

Smoking is the most preventable cause of cancer. It increases the risk of more than 14 types of cancers including lungs, mouth, throat, nose, voice box, gullet, liver, pancreas, stomach, kidney, ovary, bladder, and some types of leukaemia.

Cigarette smoke contains a number of toxic and cancer-causing chemicals. Smoking harms smokers but also those around them. Research has shown that children and close relatives of smokers are more likely to develop respiratory diseases and asthma than those of non-smokers.

According to WHO, the tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest global health catastrophie killing more than 7 million people a year. In Myanmar, more than 65,600 people are killed every year by tobacco-caused disease, according to The Tobacco Atlas. In 2016, a school-based survey of over 3,000 Myanmar students aged 13 to 15 found that 11 percent of this age group smoke cigarettes regularly, while 6 percent consume other smokeless tobacco products especially in betel nuts chewing.

Although the government has tried to control smoking by enacting “The Control of Smoking and Consumption of Tobacco Product Law” in 2006; creating smoke free zones, drafting laws to increase taxes for tobacco related products, and introducing a mandatory requirement to place alarming pictures and text on cigarette packs, the trend of smoking is not going down. A survey reported by the Ministry of Information showed that the smoking rate in Myanmar increased from 30 percent in 2009 to 43 percent in 2014. This suggests the control measures were mostly futile as there was no law-enforcement and the people failed to comply. Even after adding so-called “high tax” on tobacco products, cigarettes are comparatively cheap in Myanmar; USD 0.5 per pack for some cheap brands.

Cost of smoking

Even though the per-pack cost may be cheap the overall costs of smoking are far higher than you might think. Smoking one pack of cigarettes per day for 10 years is equivalent to USD 3000-30,000 sufficient to buy a car or deposit on a house. This accounts only for the direct cost of buying cigarettes. There are other indirect expenses such as the cost of medical care for smokers including second hand smokers, work-loss linked to smoking-related illness; the cost of smoking cessation interventions are also high.

A study which collected data from 152 countries, representing 97 pc of the world’s smokers said the overall economic cost of smoking from health expenditures and productivity losses added up to USD1436 billion in 2012 globally.

Let’s quit smoking as a new year resolution

First, find a powerful motivation to quit smoking. It might be personal, to safeguard your loved ones from passive smoking, to lower the risk of cancer, protect your limbs from amputation or to save money. Choose a motive that is strong enough to offset the craving to light up a cigarette.

Second, brace yourself, seek support from your friends, and loved ones. Disclose to your family, colleagues and other people close to you who can encourage you to keep going, especially when you have the urge to light up. Avoid individuals who are smoking. Try to stay away from triggers such as alcohol, coffee or tea. When you drink, it is harder to stick to your no-smoking goal. So try to limit alcohol when you first quit. Likewise, if you habitually smoke when you drink coffee, switch to tea or cold drinks for a few weeks. If you usually smoke after meals, replace it with something else instead, like chewing gum or candy, brushing your teeth, taking a walk or texting a friend. Let’s quit smoking and share clean air.

Don’t let your future go up in smoke.

Dr Aung Pyae Phyo, Clinician Scientist, Myanmar Oxford Clinical Research Unit

https://www.mmtimes.com/news/quit-smoking-it-kills.html