Smoking hit by market forces

Bangkok’s deputy governor, Pussadee Tamtai, yesterday warned people that they risked being fined more than Bt2,000 if they smoked tobacco in the city’s markets, according to a story in The Nation.

There are said to be 338 markets in Bangkok where smoking is prohibited.

The deputy governor said markets that failed to enforce anti-smoking laws faced fines of up to Bt20,000. She was speaking at the launch of a campaign aimed at forcing markets to be tobacco-smoke free. The Thai Health Office had previously distributed pamphlets, stickers and banners to the markets in support of the campaign.

However, a survey earlier this year showed that only about 20 per cent of respondents had seen the campaign material.

And it showed that about 73 per cent of people had witnessed smoking in the markets.