In the sixteenth century Europeans introduced tobacco to Asia. But it didn’t gain instant popularity among people. The reason that tobacco did not become widely used in Asia until the twentieth century was because of the already widespread popularity of opium, another psychoactive substance that was also being brought into Asia, largely in China, by European traders.

Then, when opium became an illegal substance tobacco slowly began to replace it as Asia’s addictive, or the drug of choice. Today, millions of Asians continue to smoke cigarettes and chew tobacco despite their knowledge of the harm that tobacco does to their health.

In Asia the number of young smokers continues to increase year after year. The cause of this increase is considered to be the tobacco company advertisements.

In Asia, tobacco companies violate the laws that ban advertisements, they don’t think about how much their advertisement affect young people.

Tobacco advertisements directed at potential young and underage smokers is a major issue being faced across Asia.

There are countries like Malaysia where 30,000 children have picked up the habit of smoking in the past two years, numbers that are devastating the health of individuals as well as the entire country as a result of second hand smoke.

Tobacco producers place cigarette advertisements near a heavily populated public school companies because they know that in this way they will gain a few new smokers.

But in the Philippines, the selling of cigarettes is prohibited within 100 meters from the perimeter of schools, public playgrounds, or other places frequented by minors and those who do sell tobacco products around those areas face a fine or jail time which has led to a decrease in illegal sales.

The young people especially young women begin to smoke because they think that smoking will help prevent them from gaining weight.

Also tobacconists in their cigarettes advertisements reflect beautiful young women smoking cigarettes, which in turn lead to an increase in smoking among female teenagers who desire the beauty of the actress they see on holding the cigarette.

Video game advertisements, movie ads and rock stars imply young children and teens that smoking is cool.

To help continue to warn Asian youth against the dangers of smoking, a new addition to all cigarette packages, beginning on the 24th of March 2008, in Vietnam will be an enlarged warning label that is now required to take up at least 30% of the entire cigarette packaging.

The Vietnam government wants to place on the cigarette packages a major warning "smoking harms fetuses and children". Smoking in Vietnam has grown to be so popular that 50% of all males in the country smoke cigarettes or chew tobacco.

High school students in Indonesia, and more recently Vietnam, are now being awarded scholarships from tobacco companies, which lead to heavily influencing young student’s future decisions regarding smoking. Huge cultural events in Indonesia are known for the distribution of free cigarettes to citizens of all ages attending events such as Women’s Day and the celebration of Nationhood in Indonesia.

In general underage and youth smoking has become one of the most dominant problems faced by Asia. The health risks are high, and the issue of legality is also a large problem being faced by Asian governments.

It is the responsibility of the government to continue making changes and laws that prohibit smoking in public places, underage smoking, sales to underage youth, advertisements, etc.

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