Photos courtesy of Bangkok Post, AFP and EPA
Health academics are calling on the government to raise tobacco taxes. The call came ahead of World No Tobacco Day on May 31.
Read the following story from the Bangkok Post to learn more about this health campaign.
Prakit Wathisathokkit, secretary-general of the Action on Smoking and Health Foundation Thailand, recently told a seminar that about 60 percent of Thai cigarette consumers who quit smoking did so because of increased tobacco taxes.
“If Thailand doesn’t apply measures to raise tobacco taxes, it won’t be able to further reduce the number of smokers,” Prakit said.
RISING RATES
The most recent boost to tobacco tax rates made by the government was in 2012. The aim then was to control tobacco consumption and increase revenue. A specific tax based on the quantity or weight of tobacco was also introduced the same year.
CUTTING CONSUMPTION
Health academics believe that increasing the tobacco tax resulted in cigarette sale volumes remaining at 2.14 billion packs in 1992 and 2.17 billion packs in 2013, despite heavy promotion by tobacco companies.
Academics also said that the tax increases had brought in extra government income of 15.3 billion baht in 1992, rising to 67.8 billion baht in 2013.
“Increasing taxes reduces tobacco consumption, especially among teenagers,” World Health Organisation representative to Thailand Yonas Tegegn said. “It’s an efficient way to prevent people from smoking, and enables governments to raise funds to help those who lose jobs in the tobacco industry.”
DANGEROUS HABIT
Siriwan Pitayarangsarit, director of Mahidol University’s Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Centre, said 44 percent of smoking-related diseases are caused by consumption of shredded tobacco.
“All types of tobacco tax must be boosted every couple of years to prevent smokers turning from one kind of tobacco to another,” Siriwan said.
Exercises
Read Exercises. Then, decide whether the following statements are true or false.
1. Siriwan Pitayarangsarit is the director of the Action on Smoking and Health Foundation Thailand.
…………………….
2. World No Tobacco Day was on May 31.
…………………….
3. According to the article, the most recent boost to tobacco tax rates made by the government occurred in 2012.
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4. According to Prakit Wathisathokkit, approximately 16 percent of Thai cigarette consumers quit smoking because of increased tobacco taxes.
…………………….
Vocabulary
- consumption (n): the act of buying and using products
shred (v): to cut or tear something into small pieces
boost (v): to make something increase
