Anti-smoking advocates on Wednesday shrugged off a call by a pro-vaping group for e-cigarettes to be provided by the state as an option for smoking cessation treatment, as being offered in Britain.

They said Thailand will first have to achieve a good standard of tobacco use control that is of a similar standard to Britain. Britain was given a full score out of 10 whereas Thailand received only 5 for its achievements in tobacco control policy, said Roengrudee Patanavanich, a doctor and academic with Ramathibodi Hospital's Department of Community Medicine.