The proposal was made at the Ministry’s meeting yesterday to review five years of implementation of the Law on Tobacco Harm Control and Prevention.

At the meeting, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son said Vietnam is one of the 15 countries with the highest number of smokers in the world.

Statistically, around 45.3 percent of Vietnamese adults are smokers. Presently, around 53.3 percent of non-smokers are exposed to secondhand smoke in families while 36.8 percent of non-smokers are exposed to secondhand smoke at workplace.

Worse, tobacco kills around 40,000 people each year in the Southeast Asian country.

The number of smokers is high whereas light punishment slight sanction does not deter people from smoking in public places.

Accordingly, the Ministry proposed to raise tax on tobacco. Moreover, the Ministry proposed the National Assembly to ban e-cigarettes. Simultaneously, health effects of smoking and regulations of smoking should be disseminated amongst young people.

Competent agencies should tighten control over advertisement of cigarettes especially in internet.