'Scary tobacco than the disease of the century'

Each year, Vietnam has about 40,000 tobacco-related deaths, while the number of deaths due to HIV / AIDS accumulated until March 2008 is only about this number.

"In 2007 the number of people killed by traffic accidents in Vietnam was 13,200. Looking at this figure everyone is afraid, in fact, this figure is less than one-third of the number of cigarette deaths per year but none feel scared, 'said Master Pham Hoang Anh, Director of HealthBridge Canada office in Vietnam, in a seminar last April in Hanoi.

According to her, experts predict the number of deaths will increase to about 70,000 if effective tobacco control measures are not implemented . Recent research shows that there are 7,000 toxic substances in tobacco smoke, not 4,000, of which at least 70 are carcinogenic . Not only are direct smokers affected, but passive smokers are also at high risk of developing diseases like cancer.

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According to a study conducted at K Hospital, for smokers within 6 months, the likelihood of getting lung cancer is 6.5 times higher than non-smokers. They also died earlier than people who did not smoke for 20 years.

In particular, children living in families with smokers also have an increased risk of bronchitis, pneumonia, sudden death, asthma 8 times higher than other children.

Tobacco affects not only health but also economic burden for individuals, families and society. One of the measures that is considered effective in reducing the number of smokers is to print a visual warning of harm on the cover. But in Vietnam, the information is only in words, the content of the warning is weak and almost no impact on consumers.

The actual survey shows that only nearly 40% of smokers remember the content of the warning 'smoking can cause lung cancer .' The reason is that the warning is not eye-catching, the content has nothing to do with me. , print is too small, color is hard to see.

"The Ministry of Health has a roadmap for printing health warnings with images since 2007, the Prime Minister has also stipulated this issue. But for some reason, this measure has not been implemented yet. " , Ms. Hoang Anh shared.

According to her, one of the paradoxes about tobacco status in Vietnam is that even though there are regulations on administrative sanctions against those who violate the ban on smoking in public places, they are not really effective.

" There are no sanctions, many people still naturally smoke in hospitals, schools, public places with shelter. The Ministry of Health hardly acknowledges any cases of fine, " said Hoang Anh.

Experts recommend that, in order to reduce the number of smokers, the cost and burden of tobacco diseases should use shocking warning images, placing images on the front and top of the packaging, printing the Carcinogenic chemicals are found in edge tobacco cigarettes such as carbon dioxide, cyanide, formaldehyde . This measure estimates a reduction of 300-700 premature deaths each year due to smoking in the next two decades in Vietnam.

The World Health Organization has conducted an experiment with 400 cigarettes showing the harmful effects of tobacco on people's lungs. Each cigarette contains 18 mg of plastic (also known as tar).

The results showed that, when burning 150 cigarettes, the water color in the vase (symbolizing the lungs) changed from clear white to yellow as diluted tea. When burning to the 380th cigarette, the water has turned into a solid black color due to plastic seepage. Going to boil the water, the scientists collected 7.2g of plastic, very sticky and bitter.