“We need to clear the air of second-hand smoke in our homes, in our workplaces and in public areas where smokers and non-smokers breathe the same air,” said Janus Annus, World Health Organization (WHO) representative in China.

He made the remarks in Beijing at a symposium marking this year’s “World No Tobacco Day,” and focused on “Cleaning the Air, Refusing Second-hand Smoke.”

The symposium was jointly sponsored by the WHO and the Chinese Association on Smoking and Health.

In China, there are about 320 million smokers, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the world’s total. Roughly 67 percent of men and 4 percent of women aged over 15 are smokers, official statistics indicate.

Meanwhile, 53 percent of China’s more than 900 million non-smokers are exposed to second-hand smoke.

An area of particular concern is children and women, many of whom are vulnerable to the smoke made by their fathers and husbands at home, warned Niu Shiru, an expert from the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine.

Non-smokers who are often exposed to smoke have a higher risk of respiratory disease, lung cancer, heart disease, strokes and lung infections, Niu added.

According to the latest official survey, the number of people who die from diseases caused by smoking has reached 750,000 per year, and experts estimated that number may be 3 million by 2050.

And not only does smoking damage people’s health, it also puts a heavy economic burden on the country.

For example, a lot of money is spent on treating the diseases caused by smoking or passive smoking. At least 23 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) was spent on medical treatment for smoke-related illnesses in 1998.

Although tobacco is one of the most hazardous substances known to man, it remains a legal product that is freely cultivated, manufactured, marketed and sold. Thus it seems highly unlikely that people will ever be free of it.

Currently in China, the tobacco industry gives 105 billion yuan (US$12.7 billion) in tax to the government each year. This accounts for 10 percent of the total tax income of the country.

The only way to control the use of tobacco is to focus on persuading more smokers to quit and forbid them to smoke in more public places, said Li Changming, the director of the Department of Grassroots Health Service and Maternal and Child Health of the Ministry of Health.

In China, there are regulations forbidding smoking in some public areas throughout the country, such as on airplanes. And 88 cities have issued local governmental regulations to forbid smoking in public places.

(China Daily 06/01/2001)