"I have heard that the Excise Department is going to inform us that it will allow imports, despite our request for a ban," Dr Narong Sahamethapat, deputy director-general of the Disease Control Department, told a press conference.

Foreign cigarette manufacturers have already contacted authorities for permission to distribute the cigarettes with chocolate,

mint or vanilla flavours in the country.

It would be more convenient and quicker if the Excise Department agreed to cooperate, otherwise the ministry would move to outlaw the flavouring of cigarettes, Narong said.

"But it will take at least six months to pass the new regulation," he said.

Dr Hatai Chitanondh, president of the Thailand Health Promotion Institute, insisted that barring flavoured cigarettes would not infringe on World Trade Organisation rules.

"No flavoured cigarettes are being manufactured in Thailand, so the import ban should not

be considered a trade barrier," he said.

Hatai urged authorities to make the good health of Thai youths a priority.

If flavoured cigarettes hit the market here, more youngsters would become smokers, he said.

The Public Health Ministry has also asked the Excise Department to ban small packs of cigarettes but that request looks set to be turned down too, Narong said.