Their risk of developing coronary heart disease will rise by 30 per cent and the risk of stroke will double, he added, citing a 2017 report from the National Statistics Office.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that Thailand suffers economic losses worth Bt75 billion a year from smoking and Prakit urged Thai authorities to strictly enforce the Tobacco Product Control Act 2017 to discourage smoking in prohibited zones to protect non-smokers.

In a Bangkok media conference ahead of May 31’s World No Tobacco Day, Prakit cited a WHO report finding that 2,615 Thais died yearly from coronary heart disease or strokes triggered by smoking, with victims as young as 21 to 25 years old. These people were among 6,500 Thais who die from second-hand smoking-triggered health complications each year, he said.

“Many victims inhale second-hand cigarette smoke from nearby people at offices and especially at home. Although smoking isn’t illegal, the smokers should be aware of harms caused to others and try to quit. It you cannot kick the habit, at least you should not smoke in the house,” Prakit said.

The 2017 Act increases the number of areas where smoking is banned and requires that owners of those premises prevent people from smoking. “This existing law should be enforced strictly,” he said.

About 100,000 Thais die from coronary heart disease or stroke each year – of which 20,000 reportedly stemmed from smoking, noted Dr Khanchit Likittanasombat, a cardiologist at Bangkok’s Ramathibodi Hospital cardiologist, and president of the Heart Association of Thailand.

Khanchit said smokers aged 30-45 had a four-time greater chance of dying from coronary heart disease or stroke than non-smokers.

Dr Praditchai Chaiseri, from the Heart Foundation of Thailand, said second-hand smokers had 1.25-1.27 times the risk of coronary artery disease and 1.25-1.35 times the risk of a stroke than non-smokers.

Srisavarindhira Thai Red Cross Institute of Nursing executive Dr Duangkamol Wattradul shared real-life stories of patients aged 21-39 suffering from coronary heart disease, along with an 18-year-old who suffered a stroke from exposure to second-hand smoke.

A WHO representative to Thailand, Dr Daniel Kertesz, said the international health body was this year emphasising the danger of smoking on cardiovascular heath in its campaign to reduce cigarette and tobacco consumption.

“Each year three million people around the world die from cardiovascular problems and stroke – which are Thailand’s top-rating killers too, because 15,000 Thais die from cardiovascular diseases due to smoking,” he said.

“A working-age smoker has four times more risk of having coronary heart disease or a stroke than non-smokers,” he said.

“Thailand has progressed in tobacco control but smoking remains a major problem as one fifth of adults and one sixth of youths are smokers – an estimated 11 million people,” he said.

Kertesz cited a WHO study from 2009 that estimated Thailand suffered economic losses worth Bt75 billion a year from smoking.

When the junta government seized office four years ago the economic situation was analogous to a sick patient affected by many factors including political unrest and lack of confidence, he said.

When the government implemented measures to stimulate the economy, the patient began to perk up. But his government did not put a lot of money into the farm sector, and so farmers did not gain as much as they had from the rice-pledging scheme implemented by the previous government.

The government has built confidence by launching the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project, said Somkid, which would underpin the next cycle of higher growth by propelling the country toward an entrepreneurial economy.

“Critics should not politicise government economic management policy,” said Somkid in an interview with The Nation. “Everyone should focus on further carrying out of reforms,” he said, referring to opposition politicians and others who criticise government policy for not benefiting the majority of people.

Government could not just give cash handouts to farmers but is instead trying to reform the farm sector to achieve growth sustainability, and that will take time, said Somkid in a dig referencing the controversial rice-pledging scheme of the Yingluck Shinawatra government.

The baht is now relatively weakened against the US dollar, and the rising crude oil price has pulled up the prices of rice, palm oil and cassava root. The price of rubber sheets also shows signs of recovery, he said.

Farmers still needed to improve product quality and find markets and this could be supported by e-commerce and farm technology, he said.

Somkid expected that more private investment would come as the government’s infrastructure projects progress. First to climb would be the property sector as it takes advantage of the new routes of mass transit projects in Bangkok, he said.

More foreign investment could be expected, particularly in the EEC, he said, noting that the government has received many trade missions from multiple countries.

The government would soon take its EEC-promotion message on the road in Europe and the United States, he said.

“We have to have confidence in our potential and also convince others to believe in our confidence.”

Asked whether he worried about planned protests by groups calling for an early election, Somkid said that protesters should not disrupt the road map to an election.

“Certainly, an election will take place,” he warned. “Don’t create political violence – it’s not worth it.”

ENVIRONMENTAL protection policies under the past four years of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) have been used as tools for the military to tighten its grip over natural resources management, academics told a forum on Sunday.

Participants discussed the present and the future for a range of resource-related issues, including community rights, agriculture and natural resources management, at the forum held at Thammasat University.

The current regime’s approach to the often-controversial issues has featured a marked decrease in public participation in decision-making. Most participants agreed the result was that authorities were exercising increased control over the nation’s resources on behalf of wealthy investors and elites.

Nine NCPO orders were discussed as examples of “harmful policies” regarding environmental protection and natural resources management.

The academic forum was a part of a two-day academic event, “D-Move: Good Steps on the Chosen Path”, which was sponsored by the Social Science Forum, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, Thai Academics Network for Civil Rights, iLaw and Assembly of the Poor. The overall event reflected on how social issues have fared under four years of junta rule, and to seek a better path towards democracy.

Benjarat Sae Chua, a lecturer at Mahidol University’s Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies, said the 2014 coup provided an opportunity for the military to exercise power over their priority issues, including getting their hands on environmental policies.

“The military have always got involved in matters of environmental protection throughout history, as they count the environment and natural resources management as another aspect of stability,” Benjarat said.

Past coups have usually seen the military exercise their full powers over these two areas, which they are unable to do under democratic government, she said.

“We can see that during the four years of the current NCPO administration there are many state policies that allow the military full power to manage natural resources, for instance the forest reclamation policy.”

That forest reclamation policy was one of the most vivid examples of the NCPO’s approach of taking a tight grip on resource management, said Benjarat, pointing to the junta’s use of its absolute power under Article 44 of the interim Charter to issue NCPO order 64/2557 as a legal tool to evict forest dwelling people from their homes.

“The public sector has been campaigning so hard and for a long time under democratic governments for resource management that involves the local people – such as establishing communal forests or land banks,” she said, “but when the NCPO seized power, almost all the rights the people had fought for were taken out of the people’s hands again.”

But military control extends beyond natural resources management, said Supaporn Malailoy, manager of the Environmental Litigation and Advocacy for the Wants (EnLAW) Foundation. The junta has also used its absolute power to reduce environmental protection measures and silence the opposition in order to benefit mega-project developments and industrial expansion.

“There are many NCPO orders that allow harmful projects – such as coal-fired power plants, hydropower dams or waste-to-energy plants – to proceed much more easily by ordering them exempt from laws and regulations that restrict development for environment reasons,” Supaporn said.

“These orders provide special privileges for rich investors who have ties with the junta, but in turn they have left the people at risk of environmental impacts and harm to their wellbeing and livelihoods.”

According to EnLAW, the NCPO has pronounced five orders creating legal exemptions and privileges for investors in mega-projects and industries attracted to the new Special Economic Zones – NCPO orders 3/2559, 4/2559, 9/2559, 2/2560 and 31/2560.

Supaporn said resentment is increasing among citizens as harmful projects across the country have regulatory obstacles cleared by improper policies of the government. Yet, those placed at risk have found it very difficult under the military regime to speak out or to launch campaigns. A major cause of that silencing is NCPO orders that limit the right to peacefully demonstrate.

“Many protesters have faced prosecution and intimidation from officials – both police and military – via NCPO order 3/2558, which bans political gatherings,” said Supaporn. “Officers often define ‘political protest’ very widely and make it very difficult for people to campaign on environmental issues.”

Benjarat, however, noted that natural resources management and environmental issues were indeed political issues, since they involve power negotiations between different sides. To ensure that Thai society has environmental justice, she argued, the country would first need to have democratic government.

“We cannot negotiate the power to manage the resources with a dictatorship, as public participation is always ignored by this type of government. So we need to have elections and democratic government to allow the people to negotiate for better environmental protection,” she concluded.

The explosions damaged properties but caused no casualties.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official yesterday identified Hubaideelah Rormeulee as a new leader of operations in Yala province by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani (BRN).

“He has now overseen BRN activities in Kabang, Bannang Sata, Yaha and Yarang districts of Yala,” he said. “Replacing [his predecessor] Isma-ae Rayalhong, he must have wanted to prove the capabilities of his 500 newly trained subordinates.”

Yala was shaken by 10 bomb blasts just after 7.15pm on Sunday. One damaged an ATM while five others targeted electricity poles. Another hit the residency compound of Bannang Sata Police Station, while one bomb exploded in front of the Bannang Sata Lands Office.

Two other bombs were detonated around the same time, one in the parking zone of a house just behind a special-taskforce base and the other just behind the Tambon Ban Haen Administrative Organisation.

At 1.30am yesterday, police found and defused a bomb at an electricity pole in Yala’s Muang district.

The latest phase of conflict in the deep South has raged for more than a decade and claimed thousands of lives.

Yala was not the only province targeted on Sunday.

Neighbouring Narathiwat province also saw several explosions. One of the blasts damaged an ATM of the Islamic Bank of Thailand and two vehicles while another rocked an ATM of the Government Savings Bank.

Meanwhile unknown gunmen opened fire on a temporary military base in Narathiwat’s Bacho district. No injuries were reported.

Narathiwat deputy police chief Pol Colonel Suthon Sukwises said bombs used in Sunday’s attacks were the same type as those thrown away by two young men at a police checkpoint on Saturday evening.

The pair escaped after throwing a bag containing four pipe-bombs into a roadside ditch before they reached a checkpoint in Narathiwat’s Sungai Padi district.

A woman whose home was damaged by one of Sunday’s blasts said it was not the first time her house had been hit during the unrest.

“It’s the ninth time,” she said, “And because there has never been serious damage, we have never received any remedial action.”

She urged authorities to pay attention to victims and to stop instigators of the violence causing trouble.

The team, which defeated six others finalists, comprises eight pupils, including 10-year-old singer-contestant Evelyn Phetthong, who has been on several TV talent shows such as “The Voice Kids Season 5” and “WeKid2”.

Other members of the winning Varee Chiangmai School team are Patcharaporn Nimanon, Ramon Tumwong, Oliver Phoom Harris, Napisara Klinkhacjhorn, Luka Chanakan Bond, Thitiwarada Kawichai and Chanokporn Phermpoon, while their accompanying teachers are Chaweewan Onsopa and Sakuna Soithong.

The first runner-up team is from Beaconhouse Yamsaard School, with the second runner-up from Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi’s Innovation Demonstration School – both from Pathum Thani.

Aphiya Hathaitham, deputy director of the Science and Technology Ministry’s National Science Museum Thailand, said her agency had hosted this national contest under the theme of “Science of Sport” as a great opportunity for primary-school students to apply thinking and communication skills on science-related topics through exciting and creative stage play in the English language.

All seven finalist teams will next month attend a science-drama camp run by professionals, before the Varee Chiangmai School team represents Thailand at the international contest in Malaysia the following month, she added.