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China’s smokers puff their way through a bounty of cigarettes given as gifts on special occasions and holidays. Like Chongzhen, modern China is also at war, but this time the enemy is tobacco and it is estimated to kill a million Chinese each year, says Yang Gonghuan, deputy head of China’s National Tobacco Control Office.
And, like the old emperor, the government today must weigh up conflicting interests: as it extends healthcare insurance across the population, at what point do the economic and medical costs of smoking-related illnesses outweigh the financial benefits of the tobacco industry?
The number of deaths is expected to double by 2025 and triple by 2050 if China fails to reduce tobacco consumption,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], says Yang, also deputy head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A total of 301 million Chinese – 28 per cent of the population – inhales a steady diet of cigarettes, according to a survey released by China CDC,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US CDC in August.
The reduction in the number of smokers in China has been negligible,cheap marlboro gold cigarettes supplier, even in the five years since China ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC),[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], says Yang. Many people, including those anti-smoking campaigners, argue that revolting pictures would deface China’s image.
At the 2008 International Tobacco Control Conference in Durban, South Africa, China was given the “Ashtray Award” because it “would rather have pretty cigarette packs than healthy citizens.” Experts say a national law to ban smoking in public places and regulate health warning labelling would be effective. “The process is very slow. If you want to know the reason, please ask the STMA,” says Jiang.
The COP4 agenda includes the adoption of draft guidelines to assist parties in implementing Articles 9 and 10 of the WHO FCTC (Regulation of Contents of Tobacco Products and Tobacco Product Disclosures). The PATDA letter misleads when it says the proposed draft guidelines include a “ban on all kinds of ingredients in the manufacture of cigarettes….” The guidelines recommend that parties “prohibit or restrict” ingredients, such as candy or fruit flavors,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], that help make tobacco products attractive and encourage their use,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], especially among young people.
The draft guidelines are not explicit on the kind of prohibition or restriction that the parties may apply on tobacco product ingredients. They are recommendatory, and each party has flexibility on which tobacco product ingredients to prohibit or restrict, taking into account the national situation and other appropriate circumstances. tobacco farmers and their families (PATDA refers to “millions” of Filipino farmers).
While tobacco control advocates fight to protect the health of 92 billion Filipinos, we also champion the tobacco farmers’ welfare, in contrast to exploitation by tobacco leaf traders and tobacco companies. Thus we urge President Aquino to order a review of RA 7171 to see if this law has truly improved the lives of our tobacco farmers in Region I. Or if it has only benefited the region’s politicians who receive 15% of the tobacco excise tax.
For example, according to the Commission on Audit,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the Ilocos Sur tobacco excise tax share under RA 7171 funded several highly questionable projects costing over 1.3 billion pesos. Even without tobacco control, our tobacco farmers are already destitute. Let us learn from countries that are dependent on tobacco growing for foreign exchange, such as Malawi and Zimbabwe (who are not parties to the FCTC); they have remained poor and continue to suffer economic woes.