Vietnamese people spend 49,000 billion VND buying cigarettes every year

“Tobacco is causing huge burdens on the economy as well as health in Vietnam,” Master Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, Tobacco Harm Prevention Fund (Ministry of Health), said at the conference on prevention. against harmful effects of tobacco, October 17.

Compared to the tax collected on cigarettes, Vietnam deserves to suffer many times more economic damage. A study by K Hospital recorded that nearly 97% of lung cancer patients smoke. The World Health Organization (WHO) records that tobacco-related diseases cause 104,300 deaths each year in Vietnam, of which nearly 19,000 are due to passive smoking.

Diseases related to tobacco use such as stroke, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer… are the leading causes of Vietnamese deaths. Cigarettes are also the cause of forest destruction and environmental pollution, from cigarette butts, cigarette butts, and toxic smoke emitted.

According to Ms. Huong, what is worth noting is the ratio Female smoking is increasing. Specifically, female smokers aged 15 and older increased from 1.1 to 1.5% over the past 8 years, while the proportion of male smokers decreased clearly from 45.3 to 38.9%. The important reason is that more and more female students are smoking e-cigarettes and heated cigarettes – the path that leads to smoking regular cigarettes later.

Some studies around the world show that smoking e-cigarettes at age 14 leads to an increased risk of smoking regular cigarettes at age 17. Smoking e-cigarettes leads to increased initiation and persistence of regular cigarette smoking. This situation causes many consequences. In Vietnam, the rate of e-cigarette use among 13-15 year old students increases rapidly from 3.5% in 2022 to 8% in 2023. This trend also appears in adults, with a rate from 0 .2% in 2015 to 3.6% in 2020.

“The achievements that Vietnam has achieved in reducing the rate of regular cigarette use over the past 10 years are at risk of being undone by the increase in e-cigarette use that is targeting young people,” Ms. Huong speak. The rate of regular cigarette use among adolescents has decreased sharply, especially in the age group from 13 to 17 years old. Passive exposure to tobacco smoke has decreased significantly in most areas with ban regulations.

According to Ms. Huong, to continue reducing the harmful effects of tobacco, it is important to increase taxes, prevent the use of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco, and strengthen the implementation of a smoke-free environment. In addition, it is necessary to change health warnings on product packaging, support smoking cessation, and strictly implement regulations banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

Currently, the tobacco tax rate calculated on the retail price in Vietnam is only 38.8%, while the World Health Organization recommends that this rate should be at least 70-75%. Cigarette taxes in Vietnam are very low compared to other countries in the ASEAN region, only higher than Laos and Cambodia. Cigarette tax increases in recent years have been lower than the increase in per capita income.

“With low taxes, cigarette prices in Vietnam are very cheap, accessible even to the poor and teenagers,” Ms. Huong said.

The area of ​​health warning images on tobacco product packaging in Vietnam is 50%, while many countries reach 75%, even 85%. Since 2013, images and health warning messages on tobacco product packaging have not changed. Some health warning forms no longer have much impact on the community’s tobacco use behavior.

In addition, electronic cigarettes and heated cigarettes are openly sold and easily bought and sold on websites and social networks. Many retailers have used phrases such as electronic toys, electronic toothbrushes, electronic smoke machines, electronic mouth fresheners… to bypass censorship and post them on sales channels. online. E-cigarette orders are packaged and delivered through shipping units in the form of “acne medicine” and “cosmetics” to deceive authorities as well as parents. Many celebrities also participate in advertising new tobacco products.

E-cigarette stores are also eye-catchingly designed to attract young people, such as technology stores and coffee shops, with large advertising posters. Many places also have promotions, trials, and product giveaways to attract customers.

According to Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, Director of the Poison Control Center of Bach Mai Hospital, the ingredients in e-cigarettes are addictive, promote lung tumors, affect young people’s brain development, cause cancer, and damage. liver, kidney… From early 2022 to October 2023, Bach Mai Hospital received more than 120 cases of patients hospitalized after using e-cigarettes, with an average age of 22.

Common onset symptoms after use are often drowsiness, confusion, and agitation. Among hospitalized patients, nearly 52% showed signs of emotional and mental disorders, including agitation, screaming, hallucinations, paranoia, and uncontrolled behavior. In many cases, after treatment, there are sequelae that are difficult to recover from.

According to experts, the argument tobacco corporations give when producing electronic cigarettes and heated cigarettes is to help adults quit smoking, reducing harm compared to regular cigarettes. show responsibility to the community. In fact, WHO has affirmed that there is no evidence to prove that e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products are less harmful than regular cigarette products.

They all contain nicotine, which is highly addictive and harmful to health. They are not products that help quit smoking regular cigarettes. WHO calls on countries to take measures to prevent making unfounded conclusions about the safety of e-cigarettes and heated cigarettes.

Currently, many countries have banned e-cigarettes such as China, Thailand, Singapore… No country in the world has approved heated cigarettes as an addiction treatment product. Scientific evidence shows that both regular cigarette smokers and non-smokers after using e-cigarettes continue to smoke regular cigarettes or smoke both types of products in parallel.

The Ministry of Health is submitting to the Government for consideration and the National Assembly to promulgate a Resolution banning the production, sales and use of electronic cigarette and heated tobacco products in Vietnam. The Ministry has also issued a set of documents guiding the implementation of a smoke-free environment in public places.