Vietnamese community leads Australia's smoking habit

A smoker for 50 years, Joseph Nguyen has ignored his doctor's advice and has no intention of giving up. Photo: Craig Sillitoe

FOOTSCRAY'S Joseph Nguyen started smoking when he was 10. His parents sold cigarettes in Vietnam and therein lay the opportunity. Most of his friends smoked and those still living in the old country continue to do so.

''But friends who come to Australia, many give up smoking,'' Nguyen, now 60, says.

His account tallies with research indicating that male members of the Vietnamese community in Australia have a high prevalence of smoking - nearly 54 per cent, according to one study, the highest smoking rate for an ethnic group in the country. Overall, 16.6 per cent of Australians smoke.

As reported in last week's Sunday Age, big tobacco companies, having lost ground in developed nations, are increasing their push into south-east Asian countries, many of which have high smoking rates. However, research provided by Quit Victoria shows that smokers from other countries, including Vietnam, are likely to ditch the habit when settling in Australia.

''I think many give up because it not so popular here,'' Mr Nguyen says.

The Footscray accountant is not a convert. ''I don't want to quit,'' he says. ''I had a heart attack in 2008 and my doctor said give up drinking alcohol and smoking and eating pork, which is salty. But I don't give up anything.''

Despite the heart trouble, Mr Nguyen hopes to follow the example of his grandmother, who smoked with gusto until she dropped dead at 95.

Tran Vantin, 50, smokes a pack a day. He started when he was 18.

''Many Vietnamese people are smoking,'' he says. ''I don't know why, except maybe it's a social thing, a friendly thing. You smoke, you chat, they go together.''

Mr Vantin has never considered giving up. His friend, Minh Pham, is living, wheezing evidence that peer pressure remains a powerful force, even late in life.

Thuy Le is a volunteer with the Vietnamese Community in Australia, which largely deals with issues affecting elderly Vietnamese-Australians. She was aware that smoking is ''very popular'' in the Vietnamese community, but says there is no community-based project to tackle the issue.

''Many of our elderly people smoke,'' she says. ''But it seems that many of them try to smoke less than before. They worry about their grandchildren and they are scared of cancer, but they find it hard to give up.''

Ms Le says smoking has a strong social element but it also seems to be a way for Vietnamese men to cope with their emotions. ''When they want to avoid being upset, they smoke.''

Luke Atkin manages the multicultural outreach program for Quit Victoria, which of late has focused on the Australian Korean and Chinese communities. ''This has involved partnering with the Chinese Cancer Society, translating resources, training Chinese-speaking educators and providing material for local Chinese newspapers,'' he says.

He says there is evidence that when people move to a country of lower smoking prevalence, such as Australia, there is an ''increased number of quit attempts''.

John Elder