Stop Selling Cigarettes to Children
Press Release: Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Center (TRC) Stop Selling Cigarettes to Children | Alarming!!! Survey results show that Thai children can easily get cigarettes at retail outlets. More than 50% can access cigarettes available through junior or senior students in schools and it is easy to buy cigarettes in areas near home or school. Although, there is a law prohibiting selling cigarettes to children younger than 18, more than 70% of sellers have never asked their customers to show their I.D. card. Academic staff of schools support the modification of the legislation aiming to prevent children access to cigarettes, banning children from being cigarette sellers, and extending the age for purchasing cigarettes.
On 22 October 2012, Dr. DDS. Siriwan Pitayarangsarit, Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Center (TRC), Mahidol University said in a Press release, ?Stop Selling Cigarettes to Children?, that the survey results of the National Statistical Office indicates the smoking rate of Thai adolescent aged younger than 15 for the last 20 years has dropped to 21.36% in 2011. However, the smoking trend in the adolescent group is likely to increase especially in adolescents aged 15 ? 18, which is currently 9.2%. This rate is higher than in the last decade, which was 6.44% (2011). In addition, survey results showed that the youngest smoker had started at the age of 6. For adolescents aged 19 ? 24, the smoking prevalence in this group was 20.9% in 2004, the lowest smoking rate ever in this group. However, this smoking rate increased to 22% (2011) as a result of easy access to cigarettes. For this reason, it is necessary to urgently implement measures to prevent Thai adolescents from getting cigarettes and starting smoking, and to also modify present legislation to make it more effective through actual enforcement measures to limit access of cigarettes to children.
Request more information, please contact:
Coordinator: Haris Taweewatana, Tel., 0-2354-5346, 089-6627-917, Fax: 0-2354-5347
E-mail: haris@trc.or.th
