Health bureau official advocates hiking cigarette price (The China Post)
發佈日期： 2013-06-10
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A health bureau official recently said increasing the cost of cigarettes would lower the smoking rate.
Director-General of the Bureau of Health Promotion Department (BHP) Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞) said Taiwan Smokers’ Helpline (TSH), a foundation established in 2003, has helped nearly 24,000 people overcome their smoking habits, Chiou remarked.
She added, however, that the way to increase the number of people kicking their smoking habits was to hike the cigarette prices.
“Each year, roughly 10,000 people call the hotline to ask for help in quitting smoking. Compared to the 3.5 million smokers in Taiwan, the number of quitters is relatively small,” she said.
“We need to put in more effort to help people quit,” she said, “Only through raising cigarette surcharges and tax rates can we cut down on the number of smokers.”
According to the BHP, the Taiwan Smokers’ Helpline 0800-636-363 has given help to 700,000 smokers.
Of those who called, 96,000 smokers took part in the tobacco cessation program offered by the foundation. Of those, 24,000 succeeded in quitting.
Assuming that a pack of cigarettes costs NT$70, Chiou said that a smoker could save up to NT$25,550 a year if they avoided one pack a day.
At a press conference to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Taiwan Smokers’ Helpline, a single mother with the surname Fang said the helpline has helped her a lot in kicking the habit.
“The foundation gave me a lot of support in quitting. In the beginning, I needed to use some mild medication; and then later the foundation helped me apply for fitness classes, or arts and craft lessons so that I could divert my attention,” she said.
The Cabinet passed a draft amendment in early May that would hike the tobacco tax and the health and welfare surcharge, raising the price of a pack of cigarettes by NT$25.
