An alliance of NGOs met yesterday at the National Pediatric Hospital to discuss tobacco control and to call for the swift passage of draft anti-tobacco legislation.
The group also took the opportunity to stress that stronger tobacco laws will not affect the economy as a whole.
"Cambodia, as a signatory to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, has an obligation to rapidly create and adopt policy on tobacco control," said Mom Kong, director of the Cambodia Movement for Health.
The law will not impact negatively on Cambodia's economy but on the contrary will increase the nation's revenues, said Mom Kong. "Raising the tax on cigarettes has enabled developing countries to receive more income from cigarettes, which can be spent on the education and health sectors," he said, adding that the law will reduce levels of passive smoking and family expenditure on cigarettes.
The meeting concluded with the NGOs surmising that the law may have some impact on tobacco firms as the number of smokers will fall.
This article first appeared in The Mekong Times
The Mekong Times is a daily newspaper distributed in Cambodia.
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