Smoking To Kill 200 Million in China This Century
Local Editor
Smoking-related diseases will claim 200 million lives in China this century and plunge tens of millions into poverty, a report said Friday.
China is the world's largest consumer and producer of tobacco, and the industry provides the government with colossal sums.
In 2015, it recorded 1.1 trillion yuan [$160 billion] in profits, up 20 percent year-on-year.
But a report by the World Health Organization [WHO] and United Nations Development Program [UNDP] said Friday that the Asian giant will suffer an economic toll if it does not urgently reduce its smoking population.
The paper -- called "The Bill China Cannot Afford" -- estimated that the total annual economic cost of tobacco use in the country in 2014 was 350 billion yuan, up tenfold from 2000.
"If nothing is done to reduce [the death rate] and introduce more progressive policies, the consequences could be devastating not just for the health of people across the country, but also for China's economy as a whole," WHO China representative Bernhard Schwartlander said in a statement.
The calculation includes both the direct costs of treating tobacco-related illness and the indirect costs such as lost work productivity.
"The rapid increase in costs associated with tobacco use in China is unsustainable," Schwartlander added.
Twenty-eight percent of all adults and 50 percent of men in China are estimated to smoke regularly.
Rural-to-urban migrants are more likely to be smokers, the report said, adding that they risk descending into poverty when smoking-related medical costs become too great -- a reality at odds with the government goal of eradicating poverty nationwide by 2020.
The organizations recommended a smoke-free policy across the country akin to laws in Beijing and Shanghai, where smoking is banned in most public places.
However, enforcing anti-smoking measures can be difficult in China as the state-owned China National Tobacco Corp, which enjoys a near-monopoly, shares offices and senior officials with the national tobacco regulator.
The report also urged further raising tobacco taxes to make smoking less affordable. While retail tobacco prices increased following a taxation hike in 2015, the average price of a cigarette pack remains just ten yuan.
A 50 percent increase in the retail price of cigarettes would prevent 20 million premature deaths over 50 years, the report said.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
Comments
- Related News
