8/1/13
PUBLIC HEALTH: Malaysia can follow NZ to raise cigarette prices - Letters to the Editor - New Straits Times
Thursday, August 01, 2013, 10:13 AM
ePaper
Mobile
News Archive
1Klassifieds
Property Auction
Twitter
RSS
SEARCH
HOME
NATION
STREETS
WORLD
BUSINESS
SPORTS
LIFE & TIMES
7 DAY NEWS
OPINION
GALLERIES
Prosecutor: Kidnapped Ohio women kept diaries
Road-rage killer of 2 executed in Texas
01 August 2013| last updated at 12:36AM
Email
Print
CHANNELS
RED
Report by an online news portal not true: IGP
3 MMEA vessels and 4 fishing boats on fire
OPINION
Editorial
PUBLIC HEALTH: Malaysia can
follow NZ to raise cigarette prices
Columnist
Letters to the Editor
Comment
STREETS
5
0
Google +
0
0
0
comments
Hotels in Bangkok
Guaranteed Discounts Save up to 75% Book now and save time and money!
HotelTravel.com/Bangkok-Hotels
I REFER to the report on "Tax hikes do not make smokers kick
the habit" (NST, July 28). Smoking is the No. 1 public health
problem worldwide and a significant risk factor to heath
ailments. This is mostly true for smokers.
Be on guard against
dengue
However, smoking also affects those around them, through second- and
NSTP FAMILY SITES
third-hand smoke.
All efforts should be made by governments to reduce smoking.
Considerable amount of research, both international and local, has
shown that increasing cigarette prices is an effective way to reduce
smoking.
Expensive cigarettes reduce the number of new and young smokers, who
are sensitive to price increases, and also encourage smokers to
consider quitting.
Malaysia should implement a system that will increase cigarette prices
consistently, as has been done in New Zealand for a three-year period,
starting from the 2014 Budget and to be revised thereafter.
Increasing cigarette prices has reduced the prevalence of smoking in
New Zealand and Australia, which have reported a less than 20 per cent
prevalence.
FENCING: Living by
the sword
Harian Metro
Berita Harian
Business Times
My Gadget Planet
Travelific
Harum
Eats
Properties
News Image Bank (NIB)
HIGHLIGHTS
New Economic Model
NST Reviews
Close
NiEXUS
Friends of Travel Times
Close
Property News
NSTLIVE Archive
Spell-It-Right
COFFEE BREAK
Sudoku
The writer's call for no increases in cigarette prices in the coming budget
is against public health campaigns by every Health Ministry worldwide.
As a signatory of the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control,
Malaysia has an obligation to reduce smoking through all possible
actions, including increasing prices.
It is my hope that the government will increase cigarette tax by up to four
times, as recommended by the Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control
(NST, July 4) for the 86.9 per cent of non-smokers in Malaysia.
Dr Amer Siddiq Amer Nordin, senior lecturer, consultant
psychiatrist (addiction),Smoking Cessation Specialist, University
Malaya Centre of Addiction Sciences
www.nst.com.my/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/public-health-malaysia-can-follow-nz-to-raise-cigarette-prices-1.330370#
1/2