In addition to being Saturday, May 31 is also “World Tobacco Day.”
Despite sounding like an invitation to light up, the global event, sponsored by the World Health Organization, is part of a campaign to increase taxes on tobacco throughout the world – a call Thai health officials said they will join.
The WHO estimates increasing the tax by 10 percent leads to a 4 percent fewer smokers in the developed world and 8 percent in developing nations, according to NNT.
The Department of Disease Control is organizing an event Sunday to promote nonsmoking.
The campaign event will kick off at 11am at Future Park shopping mall in Rangsit and will run to 7pm.
