“Prevention of tobacco harms” and civic responsibility

(Baonghean) -When the press reported on the content of the Conference on implementing the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention (effective from May 1) and the National Strategy on Tobacco Harm Prevention to 2020 organized by the Ministry of Health on April 23 in Hanoi, immediately on online forums, the "community" of tobacco addicts either harshly criticized or commented irresponsibly?!

According to the above Conference, Vietnam is one of the 15 countries with the highest smoking rate in the world. Nearly 8 million Vietnamese workers are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke at work, 47 million people are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke at home; each year in Vietnam, about 40,000 people die from tobacco-related diseases. If effective tobacco harm prevention measures are not implemented, this number will increase to 70,000 cases per year by 2030.

Back to the reaction of a group of smokers on online forums. Of course, their attitude is blameworthy. And, in reality, the majority of smokers and smokers are indifferent to warnings about the harmful effects of tobacco as well as laws and regulations to prevent the harmful effects of tobacco. This means they are indifferent and irresponsible towards their own health, their loved ones, and the community.

There have been many studies and analyses on the causes of smoking addiction and the development of smoking cessation therapies to benefit smokers and the community, but it is worth noting that the people who are most interested in learning about tobacco are not smokers, but mainly patients (and their relatives) hospitalized due to tobacco-related diseases. It should be added that tobacco has been considered one of the four modern miracle inventions that have destroyed the most people in the world (along with atomic bombs, AK guns and dynamite) with a startling number: about 100 million people died from tobacco in the 20th century! It is estimated that every day, being in a room with a smoker for one hour increases the risk of lung cancer in non-smokers 100 times higher than living for 20 years in a building containing arsenic (a substance 4 times more toxic than mercury).

At the Conference on April 23, the Ministry of Health also said that it has developed decrees on the fine for smoking in 5 public places from 200,000 to 500,000 VND/time. In fact, since 2010, there has been a regulation on a fine of 50,000 - 100,000 VND/time of smoking in public places and offices, but it has been almost ineffective. Just to mention a few difficulties in implementing the regulation: it is very difficult to "catch" all smokers when for smokers, they smoke a cigarette in just 1-2 minutes, some people only smoke 3-4 puffs and then throw it away; Or in an office, if there are a few bosses who are addicted to smoking, it will be very difficult for that agency to apply the penalty regulations... Not to mention, for Vietnamese society, there are currently many problems with self-awareness and public civilization, so making regulations on smoking in public places is considered an "eternal" challenge.

Implementing the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention, at points of sale, it is mandatory to have signs stating “No sale to children under 18 years old”, the seller must be responsible for asking the buyer’s age; in case the authorities discover that the store is selling cigarettes to underage people, both parties will be punished. On this issue, we agree with many opinions that it is very difficult to effectively regulate the ban on selling cigarettes to people under 18 years old; except for forcing cigarette buyers to show their ID cards…

Thus, to effectively prevent the harmful effects of tobacco, first of all, we must carry out propaganda work strongly and regularly; the process of propagating the implementation of the Law on Prevention of Tobacco Harms not only focuses on health warnings, but also highlights the heavy financial impact (currently, every year, Vietnamese people spend more than 22,000 billion VND on cigarettes and about 2,300 billion VND on treatment costs for diseases caused by tobacco). But what is more necessary is how to achieve the goal so that everyone is aware that preventing the harmful effects of tobacco is the responsibility of citizens in protecting their own health, the community and the development of the Vietnamese race; voluntarily implementing the no smoking in public places according to regulations is to demonstrate a civilized lifestyle and respect for oneself first!

Mr. Vu