Raising taxes on tobacco products is vital because it leads to an increase in the price of tobacco products, which makes tobacco less affordable. When tobacco becomes less affordable people use it less and initiation of tobacco use in youth also decreases. As youth and low-income groups are more responsive to increases in tobacco prices, they disproportionately enjoy the health and economic benefits of quitting and not starting. Saving lives with tobacco taxes lessens the enormous healthcare burden and economic losses that result from tobacco-related diseases. Tobacco taxation is also relatively inexpensive to implement and generates significant revenues over the short and medium term.
Smoke-free laws are reducing exposure to deadly tobacco smoke
The number of people who were exposed to tobacco smoke in 2014 has come down drastically in 2021. The number of those exposed to tobacco smoke at home declined from 66% in 2014 to 27% by 2021. Likewise, those exposed to tobacco smoke at workplaces reduced by half, from 48% in 2014 to 24% by 2021.
But it is worrisome that despite smoke-free laws, exposure to tobacco smoke in public transport rose from 33% in 2014 to 62% by 2021.
Cambodia ratified the global tobacco treaty (formally called the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) on 13 February 2006. As per Cambodian law, smoking is prohibited in all indoor workplaces and indoor public places. In order to #EndTobacco, smoking bans must be extended to outdoor workplaces and outdoor public places as well.
Smoke-free laws and policies protect people who do not smoke from life-threatening health hazards caused by secondhand smoke and third-hand smoke. Evidence shows that smoke-free laws also encourage tobacco users to quit and prevent initiation of tobacco use.
Will Cambodia go for bigger pictorial warnings and plain packaging?
Cambodia law mandates a picture warning to cover 50% and a text warning to cover 5% of the upper front and upper back panels of all tobacco-product packages. The survey shows that awareness of these warnings was good, as more than 90% of males and 89.65% of females saw the health warning on cigarette packages in the past 30 days. Over 80% of respondents - 84.10% of males and 82.55% of females - supported larger pictorial health warnings on cigarette packages.
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