22 May 2026
By Nam Phuong – Dantri
(Dan Tri) – To establish a smoke-free Vietnamese generation, the Ministry of Health proposes to ban people born from January 1, 2010 onwards from buying and using tobacco.
On May 22, the Fund for Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control held a seminar in response to World No Tobacco Day 2026.
Regarding the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Prevention and Control of the Harmful effects of Tobacco, Ms. Tran Thi Van Ngoc, Deputy Chief of the Office of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment (Ministry of Health), said that the Ministry of Health proposed 2 policies.
Firstly, it is prohibited from producing, trading, storing, transiting, transporting, advertising, promoting, sponsoring, harboring, using e-cigarettes, heated cigarettes, and other new cigarettes.
Secondly, it is forbidden for wholesale and retail establishments to display cigarettes in any form.
Besides, the Ministry of Health also asked the Government to consider and decide to include the third policy “Prohibiting people born from January 1, 2010 from buying and using tobacco” in this draft law or will make a plan to include at a time more suitable time with Vietnam’s economic and social conditions. This policy aims to establish a smoke-free Vietnamese generation.
The Ministry of Health has conducted a thorough assessment of the impact of this policy. The results show that if implemented and followed, this policy will be very effective in reducing the smoking rate, quickly reducing the number of passive smokers, protecting people’s health, reducing large costs for health care and losses caused by loss of labor productivity.
However, to ensure the feasibility and effectiveness of the policy, it is necessary to have the unity and support of the National Assembly, the Government, relevant Ministries, especially the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the support of the people and the simultaneous implementation of measures in controlling the purchase and sale of cigarettes for this subject.
Specifically, such as: strengthening communication for sellers and buyers; ensuring compliance at the point of sale through accurate and consistent year of birth verification; reducing retail points and strictly handling violations. At the same time, maintain a policy to support addiction for tobacco addicts.
Currently, the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control has basically completed the policy development, asked for opinions from Government Members and is waiting for the Government to issue a Resolution to approve the policy.
The policy of “Establing a Non-To-To-Baxco Generation” policy of some countries in the world
In the world, the Non-To-To-Generation policy is designed to protect children from tobacco addiction starting by gradually eliminating access to tobacco products for future generations.
Instead of targeting current adult smokers, this policy focuses on preventing future generations from becoming addicted in the first place and supporting a step-by-step change in social perception of smoking.
Protecting children and teenagers is the foundation of this policy. The reason is that children and teenagers are more susceptible to nicotine addiction because the brain, especially the prefrontal cortex, is still developing until the age of 25. Children and teenagers are also the target of the tobacco industry through advertising, social media and product packaging.
A similar model study in the United Kingdom shows that if their No Tobacco Generation policy succeeds, it will have an impact on public health benefits for 30 years.
If this policy is well implemented, the smoking rate is estimated to drop from 13% in 2023 to almost zero by 2050 for people aged 14-30 and from 12.7% in 2023 to 1.5% in 2056 in people aged 18 and over.
The theme of this year’s World No Tobacco Day is: “Exposing artificial attraction – Action to reverse nicotine and tobacco addiction”.
This is a very meaningful and deeply current message. The tobacco industry is using many new marketing strategies to create a “modern”, “less toxic”, “trendy” image for nicotine-containing products, especially aimed at teenagers, women and young people.
Forms of disguised promotion in the digital environment, social networks, sponsorship activities, marketing through celebrities… are increasing the risk of nicotine addiction in the community.