TOBACCO: CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT

Young people in many countries, including Mongolia, are increasingly becoming victims of prevalence of tobacco smoking due to insufficient awareness raising activities.

With the tobacco industry’s tactics continually undermining public health efforts, Mongolia is burdened with a relatively high rate of morbidity and mortality related to smoking. In the last decade alone, deaths due to cardiovascular diseases owing to smoking has doubled and one in every three people die of cardiovascular disorders while one in every five Mongolians die of cancer, according to statistics. All these morbidity and mortality cases are linked, in one way or another, to smoking.

The latest available study on tobacco use in Mongolia was conducted in 2015 by Tobacco Atlas. The international study identified Mongolia as the 17th country with the highest tobacco consumption across the world, with more than 3,000 children, aged 10 to 14, and 504,000 people above the age of 15 continuing to consume tobacco each day.

It found that 47.7 percent of Mongolian men were smokers, placing Mongolia among the countries with the highest prevalence of male smokers in the world. This contrasts with the 5.3 percent of Mongolian women of corresponding ages using tobacco in the same year. However, the number of Mongolian female smokers is also higher than the average in high-Human Development Index (HDI) countries as well.

The study showed that 23.34 percent of male smokers and 9.31 percent of female smokers died in 2016, which is higher than in most countries.

Growing concern for young smokers

One of the most shocking findings in the Tobacco Atlas’ study was the fact that 2.7 percent of boys and 0.55 percent of girls aged 10 to 14 were smoking on a daily basis in Mongolia.

“Even though fewer girls smoke in Mongolia than on avenger in high-HDI countries, there are still more than 500 girls who smoke cigarettes each day, making it a sign of an ongoing and dire public health threat,” Tobacco Atlas reported.

A study by the World Health Organization WHO identified that the prevalence of smoking any tobacco product among persons aged below 15 is gradually declining. Reportedly, 56.9 percent of boys and nine percent of girls below the age of 15 were smoking in Mongolia 2000, but these figures went down to 47.7 percent and 5.3 percent in 2015 respectively.

However, the reduction rate has been slowing down. By 2020, almost 50 percent of young Mongolian girls and boys will still be exposed to the health risks related to smoking, according to the WHO.

This is a clear indication that Mongolia needs to strengthen its national policies and law enforcement for the sale of tobacco. According to the law, the sale of tobacco to children under the age of 21 is prohibited. So how do minors get their hands on cigarettes?

Some children might steal one or two cigarettes from their parents or anyone else in their family who smoke. But once they’re addicted, they start to buy their own cigarettes from retailers or other children, or by giving money to others to buy for them.

From my personal experience, I have seen many high school students buying cigarettes in small quantities from small shops and vendors near schools. It is very easy for some of them because kiosk shops do not hand out receipts. A couple of young smokers told me that they had a hard time acquiring their cigarettes for a while when the Law on Tobacco Control was revised on October 24, 2012, but after a few months when enforcement “loosed up”, they started buying cigarettes like usual.

Moreover, cigarettes are way too affordable. A packet of locally manufactured cigarette costs around 2,000 MNT to 2,500 MNT while imported cigarettes are sold for an average of 3,000 MNT to 5,000 MNT per packet. However, many smokers are able to buy cigarettes in smaller quantity, with each cigarette sold for 200 MNT to 300 MNT depending on the brand. Instead of buying candy or a snack with 300 MNT, teenagers are driven by their curiosity to try out the “adult stuff”. This particular reason has led many people worldwide into addiction along with young people’s vulnerability to social and environmental influences to use tobacco and the tobacco industry’s strategies to promote tobacco use. Research also shows that smoking is attracting many girls due to false rumors that it helps slim them down.

Often people start smoking or become habitual smokers during their teen years. Therefore, the government should prioritize controlling the tobacco use among young people to protect the population as the majority of the Mongolian population is made up of young people.

Children and teenagers need to build immunity against false information, messages and marketing that make tobacco appealing from a young age. They need to be taught the health effects and consequences of smoking as soon as they start to get health classes in third grade to prevent them from becoming addicted. A good basic understanding about the severe health consequences will discourage children and teenagers from taking the first and decisive step to becoming a habitual smoker.

By the time young smokers become adults and start to feel both immediate and long-term damages of smoking, it becomes extremely challenging for them to quit because it is a battle against not only nicotine addiction but also emotional and habitual addictions. It’s also said that a smoker needs to make five to 10 attempts at quitting before they finally put down cigarettes for good. If you don’t want yourself or anyone dear to you to go through this strenuous and tiring process, don’t start smoking in the first place, but if you’ve already developed an addiction, then will yourself to quit as soon as possible because the longer you keep smoking, the harder it’ll be to quit.

Tobacco control is a community effort. It requires everyone to assist to make a difference. We all need to play a part in this struggle. If we become even a fraction lax in this effort, tobacco manufacturers with unlimited money, who are being squeezed out of other countries, will try to bring in their business into our country to make profit by making children and young people dependent.