Chapter 27 International

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International: Thailand

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In Thailand, cigarette advertising and promotion is banned, as is smoking in most

public places. Adult yearly per capita cigarette consumption is 1050, low by Asian

standards. Largely because of the ad ban, American companies were denied the

tools that they traditionally use to attract new customers, and imported cigarettes in

1995 had only 3% of the market share, compared to 21% in Japan, 22% in Taiwan,

and 6% in South Korea.

The Washington Post National Weekly Edition, December 2-8, 1996, p. 12

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Tobacco companies are waging a major battle against the Thailand Ministry of Public

Health over proposed regulations requiring companies to reveal the identity and

amount of additives in each brand of cigarette and cigar. Some in the Ministry plan to

make the information public - a first for any nation that would make previously secret

information available worldwide. Protesting vehemently, manufacturers have been

persuading US, British, and Japanese Embassy officials in Bangkok to write to the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggesting that the regulations may conflict with

international trade agreements that protect trade secrets. One US Embassy letter

attached to a 12-page document from Philip Morris (Thailand) Ltd encapsulated other

industry complaints, including that technical standards in the regulations are "vague

and ambiguous . . . contain factual errors . . . and unfairly discriminate against

international manufacturers of cigarettes". If the US Trade Representative Office

decides that tobacco ingredients are trade secrets rather than health hazards, the

USA could threaten to impose trade sanctions on Thailand.

Quote from the British Medical Journal, January 13, 1996, p. 112

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The smoking rate for monks in Thailand (97% of the population is Buddhist) dropped

from 53% in 1990 to 32% in 1996.

Abstract PO 92, 10th World Conference on Tobacco or Health, Beijing, 1997

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Monday, July 24, 2000

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