About 200 Chonburi students were given a stark lesson in the perils of smoking as the city brought in a speaker using only a voice box tell them how he lost his larynx.
Karun Trakulpadetkrai president of the Laryngectomy Association in Thailand talked to pupils from five city schools June 28 as part of Chonburi’s youth anti-smoking campaign.
Students from Chonburi are given a harsh lesson in the perils of smoking.
Jutharat Prinwachirapat, the city’s permanent secretary, said 1.5 million Thai youths under age 24 are believed to be addicted to cigarettes, including 500,000 under age 18. She said the start of a school year is an ideal time to get kids before they get hooked.
Chonburi Mayor Decho Khongchayasukhwat said students are pushed into smoking by peer pressure and stress from family and school issues. However, he said, society needs to realize that smoking is a not just an individual problem and, thus, the city is organizing anti-smoking seminars to show students what smoking can do to the body.
