It is a known fact that smoking is dangerous for the health of smokers and non-smokers also. But, smoking is deadly for the disadvantaged families. Smoker in poor family burns the meager resources in smoke, which could be used for providing better living conditions.

Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) during the Regional Forum on Tobacco Control and Sustainable Development, said that the incidence of poverty can be traced to tobacco use based on a 2004 World Health Organization titled, "Tobacco and Poverty: A Vicious Cycle," which stated "that of the 1.3 billion smokers in the world, 84 percent live in developing countries, and that it is actually the poor who smoke the most; directly affecting the total household expenditures. Thus children and non-smoking family members are deprived of basic necessities such as food and healthcare just so the smoking family member can sustain the tobacco addiction".

Secretary Cabral added that in the Philippines, every hour, ten Filipinoss die of tobacco-related diseases. Nearly 60 percent of all Filipino male adults smoke according to the Framework Convention Alliance on Tobaco Control. Smoking and Tobacco use, while often seen as a harmless habit by some smokers, push the poor even deeper into a vicious cycle of poverty.

Cabral said that the government should develop substitute industries such as biofuels and high value crops in tobacco farming areas in order to provide tobacco farmers with better means of livelihood.