Big tobacco eyes Myanmar market

As the country opens up to foreign multinationals, tobacco giants are staking a claim. A smoky haze greets customers walking into any of Yangon’s tea shops as patrons light up hand-rolled cigarettes known locally as cheroots. Elsewhere in Myanmar’s main city, vendors sell cheap cigarettes smuggled from China to drivers stopped at traffic lights. The pavement is painted red with the spit of people chewing tobacco wrapped in betel leaves. Tobacco is already a problem in this impoverished Southeast Asian country where anti-tobacco legislation is weak. But as Myanmar opens its doors to the world after half a century of military rule, it faces a new threat: Large multinational cigarette companies looking for new markets. After years of isolation, many young people want to be as “cool” as their Western peers. “I wanted to imitate the people I saw in movies,” said Kyaw Zin Lin, 42, who began smoking at age 12. He got his first packet of cigarettes from his parents’ grocery shop. “It seemed cool then.” Some anti-tobacco activists say it’s not just the nation’s health that is at risk from the tobacco companies’ new push, but also the rights of some of Myanmar’s poorest people. At the heart of the problem lies a conflict of interest within the government. The health ministry is trying to implement measures to curb smoking, but the trade ministry is keen to lure millions of dollars in potential foreign investment by multi-national companies, says Bungon Rithiphakdee, director of the Southeast Asian Tobacco Control Alliance.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/11/big-tobacco-eyes-myanmar-market-2013111881147974171.html