Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who has been smoking for 52 years, yesterday signed up for the Health Promotion Administration’s (HPA) smoking cessation competition to encourage other people to quit smoking.
The minister announced his decision and signed a registration form at a news conference held by the HPA and the John Tung Foundation in Taipei yesterday to promote this year’s program.
Chen, who is 69, said he started smoking when he was 17, and even when Chang Po-ya (張博雅), then-minister of the now-defunct department of health, asked him to be the convener of the smoking cessation competition, he agreed, but did not want to give up smoking himself.
Photo: CNA
“I have attended many activities in recent years, but I feel most uneasy today, because it is very hard to make this decision,” he said. “I have been smoking for about 50 years, and I have never thought of quitting smoking, as I have always found excuses for smoking.”
However, Chen said he began thinking about giving up smoking because he received a telephone call from Lin Ching-li (林清麗), director of the John Tung Foundation’s tobacco division, about a month ago, encouraging him to quit, and she even wrote him a letter.
Chen said he is not sure he can succeed, but he would do his best in the hopes of encouraging smokers to take action.
The competition invites groups of two people — a competitor (smoker) and a witness (non-smoker) — to register before the end of next month. If the competitor can succeed in not smoking from May 2 to May 29, their group would be eligible for a lottery with a grand prize of NT$300,000.
The biannual competition has been held for 20 years, the foundation said, adding that the smoking cessation rate is about 70 percent after one month and about 35 percent after a year.
There are more health benefits for young people who quit smoking, so smokers should quit as early as possible, Chen said.
However, it is never too late to give up smoking, even for long-term smokers like himself, he added.
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