[Intl-tobacco] Bhutan becomes first nation to ban tobacco sales

[robert weissman]

AFP
Bhutan becomes first nation to ban tobacco sales

Fri Dec 17, 1:15 AM ET

NEW DELHI (AFP) - The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan was set to enforce a
ban on all tobacco sales, a world first, official media reported.

Photo
AFP/File Photo



Smoking in public places is also outlawed, but people can still light up
in their homes.

Bhutan's trade and industry ministry issued a notice giving shops,
hotels, restaurants and bars until December 17 to dispose of tobacco
stocks, the kuenselonline.com website said.

The notice extends to the capital Thimphu a ban on tobacco sales that
has been enforced in 18 of the pristine country's 20 districts since summer.

Bhutan's national assembly voted in July to ban tobacco sales nationwide
and levy a 100 percent tax on tobacco products brought into the country
for personal consumption.

Cities such as New York ban smoking in public places and several
countries including India ban tobacco advertising.

Bhutan, a Mahayana Buddhist nation of 734,000 people nestled between
India and China, proclaims a development goal of "gross national happiness."

It is the first nation to ban tobacco sales outright, according to the
website of the anti-smoking group, Action on Smoking and Health (news -
web sites).

"We had declared in the World Health Assembly that we would be the first
country in the world to be smoke-free," Sangay Thinley, secretary in
Bhutan's health ministry told AFP last month.

"We hope with the initiative others would also follow. The main
intention is to protect the health of the people," he said.

Anyone caught selling tobacco in Bhutan faces a 225 dollar fine, a hefty
sum in a country where the poverty line is set at around 16 dollars a month.

Only about seven percent of the population chew or smoke tobacco.

Community leaders and businesses in the nation known as the land of the
thunder dragon have reportedly been cooperating to enforce the measure.

The kingdom has always taken a cautious approach to modernisation, only
allowing foreign visitors since the 1970s. They must pay 200 dollars a
day on guided tours. Television was introduced just five years ago.

King Jigme Singye Wangchuck has tried to preserve the culture of the
majority Drukpa (dragon people) by means such as practising the national
sport of archery and wearing the national dress.

Bhutan is still primarily rural with the majority living off agriculture.

The anti-smoking initiative has been encouraged by the World Health
Organisation (WHO), which says tobacco is the second major cause of
death in the world.

The country has "No smoking" days during the year and local communities
hand out medals to those considered to have worked particularly hard to
fight against tobacco.

One such medal winner, Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, went on to become the
country's health and education minister.