China

China is weak at the knees when it comes to anti-smoking measures

Jun 8th, 2016

Watering down of draft law to restrict smoking nationwide ignores the massive health costs of a habit that kills millions every year

Public bans are the most effective way to protect society against the harmful effects of smoking. Studies show marked health benefits when cigarettes are stubbed out.

Mainland officials cannot be blind to such research or the cost to society of its nicotine habit while also being sympathetic to the demands of the powerful tobacco industry.

Until forceful measures are in place, Chinese will pay a terrible human and economic price.

The mainland has about 320 million smokers and 1.4 million people die each year from smoking-related illnesses. Should authorities do no more than they have already to curb the habit, the number would reach three million by 2050. The medical costs and toll to families and the workforce is already high, which is why Beijing, Shanghai and a handful of other cities have put in place curbs. A watering down of draft rules to be implemented nationwide therefore makes no sense.

China signed the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control more than a decade ago, but at least 700 million non-smokers continue to be exposed to second-hand smoke. The draft nationwide law put up for general consultation in 2014 went a long way towards attaining that goal by banning smoking in all indoor public places and some outdoor ones. But the latest version has rolled back provisions to allow restaurants, bars, hotels and airports to set aside smoking areas and would permit the habit in individual offices. It fits a weakened approach that has failed to introduce tried-and-tested anti-smoking strategies like hiking cigarette prices through hefty taxes and mandating prominent health warnings on packaging.

The reason for not being tough is obvious: tobacco companies are state-run and generate huge profits through 50 per cent of men and 2.7 per cent of women smoking. The sector, which employs more than 30 million people, contributed 1.1 trillion yuan (HK$1.3 trillion) to public finances last year. But as compelling as those figures may be to justify limited anti-smoking measures, they ignore the mounting mortality rates and health costs. China’s health has to take priority.
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Source URL: http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1969937/china-weak-knees-when-it-comes-anti-smoking-measures

Plain-packaging push for tobacco products

Jun 2nd, 2016

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As Beijing marked the first anniversary of China’s toughest anti-smoking measures, experts called for stronger regulations to safeguard the population.

The World Health Organization and leading health experts in China are calling for the country to follow the global trend and promote plain packaging and graphic warnings on cigarette packs to reduce tobacco use.

The organization’s call for all countries to prepare for plain, or standardized, packaging of tobacco products came as Beijing marked the first anniversary of an anti-smoking law, which came into force on June 1 last year, and World No Tobacco Day, which fell on May 31.

“Plain packaging is an evidence-based measure that can save lives and protect public health,” said Bernhard Schwartlander, the organization’s representative in China.

“Plain packaging makes tobacco products less attractive, stops tobacco companies using the pack as a marketing tool, and increases the effectiveness of health warnings.

“WHO recommends plain packaging as part of a comprehensive approach to tobacco control: it works best alongside other tobacco-control measures, including comprehensive anti-smoking laws, bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, raising tobacco taxes and large, graphic health warnings,” he said.

Wu Yiqun, vice-director of the ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development, an NGO in Beijing that is committed to tobacco control, said: “China lags behind many other countries in promoting plain packaging and graphic warnings.

“Most major countries require graphic warnings to be printed on tobacco packs, but there is no sign that similar measures will be adopted in China anytime soon. We cannot wait. We must take action right now.”

China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of tobacco products, and has the world’s largest population of smokers－more than 300 million people. Tobacco-related illnesses cause more than 1 million deaths every year in the country, and more than 700 million people are exposed to second-hand smoke, which poses a health risk, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Stringent regulations

Beijing’s anti-smoking regulations, the toughest among the 18 Chinese cities in which controls have been implemented, ban smoking in all indoor public areas and workplaces, and in a number of outdoor spaces, such as areas near children’s hospitals.

Violators face fines of up to 200 yuan ($30), 20 times higher than those levied under a lessstringent regulation adopted in 1996.

Fang Laiying, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning, said smoking in some public places, such as restaurants, has decreased greatly over the past year.

Moreover, the city’s health authorities have imposed fines totaling more than 1 million yuan on premises and individuals who violated the regulations.

Meanwhile, a recent survey found more than 46 percent of smokers plan to quit, compared with less than 12 percent before the capital implemented the smoking ban, Fang said.

Mao Qun’an, a spokesman for the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the nation’s top health authority, said the measures have won great public support, produced satisfactory results in terms of tobacco control and paved the way for national tobacco-control regulations.

Other important steps in the past year include a rise in tobacco tax, and therefore retail prices, announced by the Ministry of Finance in May last year, which has resulted in a reduction in overall tobacco consumption. In addition, stronger restrictions on tobacco advertising came into effect in September.

Global measures

Plain packaging refers to “measures to restrict or prohibit the use of logos, colors, brand images or promotional information on packaging other than brand names and product names displayed in a standard color and font style”, according to WHO.

In December 2012, Australia became the first country to fully implement plain packaging, while France and the United Kingdom began the process on May 20. New Zealand and Norway have also announced that they will remove branding from cigarette packs. Ireland is also preparing to introduce the measure, while other countries are exploring the option, WHO said.

“Plain packaging is fast becoming a global trend,” Schwartlander said.

“There is an opportunity for China to take a step in the right direction toward plain packaging with the adoption of a strong, comprehensive national smoke-free law, including the introduction of graphic health warnings.”

The National Health and Family Planning Commission proposed a national tobacco control regulation in 2014, which was submitted to the State Council for approval in the same year.

“The legislation is at the end stage and may be completed before the end of the year,” said Mao, the commission’s spokesman, at an international conference in Beijing on May 30 to mark World No Tobacco Day.

Wu Yiqun, who participated in the revision process, said the latest draft has not yet been released to the public, but it is more lenient than the measures adopted in Beijing, and plain packaging or graphics warnings were not mentioned in the paper.

Reducing consumption

Wu Ming, a professor of public health at Peking University’s Health Science Center, said putting images on tobacco packs that depict the downside of smoking, such as cancer-ridden lungs and yellowed teeth, can greatly reduce tobacco consumption and is a highly effective measure to help prevent young people from picking up the habit.

“However, at present cigarette packs only carry a few small characters that read ‘smoking is harmful to health’,” she said.

Graphic warnings have been adopted in more than 80 countries and regions, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and in many countries images cover more than half of the surface area of the packs, she said.

WHO’s Schwartlander said it is crucial to make the warnings more hard-hitting: “The current warnings on packs in China are woefully inadequate: they are ineffective at informing smokers about the harm caused by smoking and do little to warn young people off taking up the habit.”

According to Wu Yiqun from ThinkTank, compared with plain packaging, which prevents tobacco companies from promoting smoking through the designs on packaging, graphic illustrations of the damage caused by smoking have a greater effect on smokers, regardless of origin or culture, and is effective with less-educated or illiterate people.

In addition, the photos also reduce sales of tobacco products bought as gifts, which is one of the major reasons for their overwhelming prevalence in China, she said.

“Printing graphic health warnings is the most economic and effective way of generating publicity for tobacco-control measures,” she added.

However, she conceded that it’s highly unlikely that legislation to enforce plain packaging or the inclusion of warning graphics will be implemented in the near future. The biggest obstacle has been resistance from the nation’s powerful tobacco industry, which contributes more than 6 percent of China’s annual tax revenue.

“The government may think a decline in tobacco sales will affect economic development,” she said. “But we cannot rely on money that is generated at the cost of people’s health. We hope the government will continue to promote tobacco control for the public good.”

Standardized packs save lives

・ Plain packaging refers to “measures to restrict or prohibit the use of logos, colors, brand images or promotional information on packaging other than brand names and product names displayed in a standard color and font style”.
・ In December 2012, Australia became the first country to fully implement plain packaging. On May 20, France and the United Kingdom both began implementation of plain packaging. On Tuesday, New Zealand and Norway became the latest countries to announce they will remove branding from cigarette packs.
・ By the end of last year, graphic warnings on packaging had been adopted in 85 countries and regions.
・ Studies undertaken after the implementation of pictorial package warnings in Brazil, Canada, Singapore and Thailand consistently show that they significantly increase people’s awareness of the damage caused by tobacco use.

World No Tobacco Day

Jun 1st, 2016

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China back-pedals on tough national smoke-free law

May 31st, 2016

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Changes to draft legislation would let people light up in restaurants, bars, hotels and airports

China has back-pedalled on a proposed national smoke-free law, with plans now to grant exemptions to restaurants, bars, hotels and airports.

Sources who have read the draft said they were shocked by how much it had been watered down from the version put up for public consultation in November 2014. That earlier draft proposed a ban on smoking at all indoor, and some outdoor, public spaces.

The latest version of the Ordinance on Smoking Control in Public Spaces would allow restaurants, bars, hotels and airports to set aside smoking areas, several sources who have seen the draft said. The changes are a major departure from the 12th five-year plan, which ended last year and called for a complete smoking ban in public spaces.

Bernhard Schwartländer, the World Health Organisation’s representative in China, said the WHO was worried by the changes.

A law that has so many exceptions can’t be enforced. We have learned the best law is one that is 100 per cent smoke free.

“You see again and again in the world such exceptions built in the law and it doesn’t do much to protect the health of the people from second-hand smoke. A law that has so many exceptions can’t be enforced. We have learned the best law is one that is 100 per cent smoke free. That’s is very simple and clear,” Schwartländer said.

With about 315 million smokers, the mainland is the world’s biggest producer and consumer of tobacco products. And roughly 700 million people are routinely exposed to second-hand smoke, according to the WHO.

Tobacco control is difficult on the mainland because the industry is state-owned and lucrative, generating more than 1.09 trillion yuan (HK$1.3 trillion) in profit and tax revenue last year.

A national health official campaigning to restrict tobacco use said some cities already had strict laws banning smoking in all indoor public areas and “we’d rather have no law at all than have a national law that says it is OK to smoke indoors”.

Eighteen mainland cities have passed municipal smoking bans since 2008 and of those Beijing’s is the strongest. The law, introduced in the capital in June last year, complies fully with the WHO’s call for a complete ban on smoking in all indoor workplaces, public transport, indoor public areas and other public places.

A year after it came in, smoking in indoor public areas in Beijing has dropped from 23.1 per cent to 6.7 per cent and smoking in restaurants fallen from 40.3 per cent to 14.8 per cent, according to Fang Laiying, director of the Beijing Health and Family Planning Commission.

But the manager of Hua’s Restaurant in Beijing said allowing smoking areas in restaurants would make his job much easier.

“Some customers are not from Beijing. Some are drunk. It’s very difficult to persuade them not to smoke in the restaurant,” he said.

ashtray-dish

Source URL: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1959676/china-back-pedals-tough-national-smoke-free-law

WHO asks China to nationally extend Beijing anti-tobacco law

May 31st, 2016

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World Health Organization called on the Chinese government on Monday to enforce a strict national level anti-tobacco law following the “successful” implementation of the model legislation in Beijing

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health-news/WHO-asks-China-to-nationally-extend-Beijing-anti-tobacco-law/articleshow/52515676.cms

The World Health Organization called on the Chinese government on Monday to enforce a strict national level anti-tobacco law following the “successful” implementation of the model legislation in Beijing, which has been “smoke-free” for a year.

“It is time to extend the same protection from second-hand smoke Beijingers now enjoy to the rest of the country, through the adoption of a strong national smoke-free law,” said WHO representative in China Bernhard Schwartlander.

A year on, the law’s success is “proof” something can be done to protect citizens from smoke, Efe news quoted him as saying.

“Enforcement is good, compliance is good, public support is high, and Beijingers are breathing easier as a result. We applaud Beijing for its very strong leadership,” he said.

The WHO considers the law exemplary as it fulfills all parameters indicated by the organisation, including a smoking ban in indoor workplaces, public transport and indoor or other suitable public places.

The UN health agency also said it should be compulsory at the national level for cigarette packages to carry pictorial warnings of the health dangers of tobacco.

According to WHO data, China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of tobacco, with 315 million smokers, 11 percent of whom are aged between 13 and 15 years old.

One million Chinese lives are lost every year due to smoking-related ailments, while 700 million are passive smokers, of whom some 100,000 die annually.

Besides the anti-smoking law in Beijing, Chinese authorities have also increased the tax on tobacco, causing sales to fall between 3.3 to 5.5 percent.

100-day anti-smoking campaign in Beijing to encourage smokers to quit

May 27th, 2016

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http://www.newsx.com/world/30011-100-day-anti-smoking-campaign-in-beijing-to-encourage-smokers-to-quit

Beijing: China’s capital Beijing will launch a 100-day anti-smoking campaign from July 1 to encourage more smokers to quit.

The effort will build on the success already achieved since China’s strictest tobacco control regulation took effect in the capital last year, the China Daily reported on Friday.

Since then, tobacco control in Beijing has made significant progress, with smoking in indoor public places decreasing greatly, Mei Hongguang, deputy director for health promotion at the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning, said on Thursday.

During the campaign, launched jointly by the commission and the World Health Organisation, participants will be encouraged to receive professional services at clinics that help smokers quit at 16 major hospitals in Beijing, or they can seek advice and help through three health service hotlines, Mei said.

Smokers will be invited to interact and share their experiences on social media such as WeChat, he said.

Any resident in Beijing who is over 18 years old and has been smoking for more than a year is eligible to register until June 30, he said.

Participants who successfully quit smoking will have a chance to win prizes worth up to 20,000 yuan ($3,100), Mei said.

Since the start of controls last year, smoking in major public places, such as railways stations and hotels, has decreased, according to a survey conducted by the commission between March and April. The number of cigarettes sold in Beijing last year fell 2.71 percent from 2014, said Gao Xiaojun, the commission’s spokesman.

The survey, which looked at 5,100 residents and 728 businesses, found the greatest smoking decline in restaurants.

Only 6.7 percent of all facilities surveyed were found in violation of the regulation, compared with more than 23 percent a year ago when the regulation was adopted, Gao said.

More than 46 percent of smokers surveyed said they planned to quit, compared with 11.6 percent who said so before the regulation, Gao said.

Health law enforcement officers in Beijing had imposed penalties on more than 1,500 individuals and nearly 400 businesses as of the end of April, levying total fines of more than 1.12 million yuan.

Clear The Air on International Tax and Investment Center

May 22nd, 2016

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Shanghai customs bust cigarette smuggling ring

May 22nd, 2016

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http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/Shanghai-customs-bust-cigarette-smuggling-ring/shdaily.shtml

SHANGHAI customs authorities said on Sunday that they have busted a cigarette smuggling operation with the arrest of 20 suspects, six of whom were airport ground staff that helped the gang bypass customs checks.

About 4,000 boxes of foreign brand cigarettes were confiscated in the operation.

Local customs officials noticed a smuggling ring which had been transporting cigarettes from Japan to Shanghai recently.

On the night of April 21, four suspects arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport and bypassed customs checks with the help of ground personnel of the airlines.

The four were caught in the airport parking lot with about 800 boxes of cigarettes, according to Shanghai customs.

The rest of the gang were caught the same night.

Nine of the alleged smugglers traveled between Osaka and Shanghai three or four times in a single week. The ring also included drivers and deliverymen.

The cigarettes have been mostly sent to Liaoning Province. The case is under further investigation.

Chinese, Vietnamese eye projects in tobacco industry

May 18th, 2016

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TALKS are underway between the government and investors from Vietnam and China to put up investment projects in tobacco processing and cigarette manufacturing.

http://dailynews.co.tz/index.php/home-news/49907-chinese-vietnamese-eye-projects-in-tobacco-industry

Trade, Industry and Investment minister Charles Mwijage told the National Assembly yesterday that the government is on the right course to bring such investors to engage in production of cigarettes and also to set up tobacco processing factories in regions where the crop is grown.

The minister was responding to a basic question from Tabora Urban Member of Parliament Emanuel Mwakasaka (CCM) who wanted to know government’s plans to set up a tobacco processing factory in Tabora region.

The MP argued that despite being a leading tobacco producer, Tabora Region has for many years lacked a factory to process the cash crop. In response, the minister said that it is the commitment of the Fifth Phase Government to ensure that every region has a factory depending on crops produced in that particular area or other economic activity.

He said last year Tabora Region produced 39,502 tons of tobacco which were all ferried to Morogoro Region for processing and value addition. Tobacco produced in Tabora and other regions of the country is being processed at the Morogoro-based two factories of Tanzania Tobacco Processing Limited (TTPL) and Alliance One Tobacco (AOTT).

Mwijage said that this Sunday a team of investors from China will visit the Tabora Region to study the environment before deciding to set up a factory.

“Our aim is to have serious investors who will be manufacturing cigarettes which conform to international standards using the locally-produced raw material,” he said. He said the move will help farmers have a reliable market and to create more employment opportunities for Tanzanians.

He also said that he has already tasked his Permanent Secretary responsible for Investment to meet with his counterparts in the ministries of agriculture and labour to chart out areas where social security funds can invest.

He was responding to Mwakasaka’s supplementary question on efforts to engage pension funds in building and developing factories in the country. The minister’s directive to his PS came few days after President John Magufuli advised pension funds to change their mindsets and start investing in building factories.

The President had hinted that by eyeing the setting up of factories, the pension funds will register benefits in a short period of time while creating more employment opportunities.

The minister also said that his ministry has already surveyed key areas in Kigoma which government wants investors to focus as the region has good infrastructure to facilitate investment activities. According to Mwijage, areas of investment include palm tree growing, cement and sugar industries.