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World Health Organization Tobacco Tax Increase in China Reduced Smoking Slightly

May 13th, 2016
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https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2016/05/13/who-tobacco-tax-increase-has-resulted-decreased-consumption

In the year since China’s Ministry of Finance announced an increase in tobacco taxes, tobacco prices throughout the country are up and consumption is down, albeit slightly, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement.

“Following the tax increase announced on May 8 last year and a series of other tobacco control policy developments, WHO estimates that the total number of cigarettes sold in China fell by 3.3 percent between April 2015-March 2016, compared to the same period (April 2014-March 2015) the previous year,” said Dr Bernhard Schwartländer, WHO Representative in China.

This decrease in consumption included a 5.5 percent reduction in total sales of the cheapest class of cigarettes, indicating that the tax has impacted those with lowest incomes most. This is good news, Schwartländer said, as the lowest-income groups in China are most profoundly affected by the health and economic burdens as a result of smoking.

A further increase in tobacco tax is what will further decrease smoking in China, he suggested.

“We must build on last year’s reform to take more steps towards reducing tobacco consumption through further tax increases – because the higher the price, the more lives that will be saved,” Dr Schwartländer said.

We’re all for this, especially if it means that Beijing’s office toilet cubicles and lifts will finally stop being smoking areas for all.

China’s cigarette sales fall slightly after tobacco tax: WHO

May 10th, 2016
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-smoking-idUSKCN0Y10QA

BEIJING Cigarette sales in China fell slightly over the past year after a hike in tobacco taxes, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, as the country works to suppress a habit with major healthcare costs.

The world’s largest producer and consumer of cigarettes has stepped up its battle on smoking, despite persistent opposition from the tobacco industry.

China has 300 million smokers and 740 million more who are exposed to secondhand smoke, state media have said.

The number of cigarettes sold in China fell 3.3 percent in the year to March 2016 from the previous year, the WHO said in a statement.

Sales of the cheapest cigarettes fell 5.5 percent over the period, the WHO added, signaling that the tax prompted poor smokers, in particular, to cut back on cigarette purchases.

“This is good news, because it is people in the lowest socio-economic groups in China who are most profoundly affected by the health and economic burdens caused by smoking,” said Bernhard Schwartländer, the WHO representative in China.

Last year, China hiked its wholesale tax rate on cigarettes to 11 percent from 5 percent, an increase the WHO said earned revenue of about 70 billion yuan ($11 billion) for the central government in 2015.

Retail cigarette prices rose about 10 percent on average, with the cheapest brands becoming as much as a fifth more costly, a WHO analysis found.

Anti-smoking campaigners in China have faced tough opposition from the state-owned tobacco monopoly, which wields great sway because it contributes an estimated 7 percent to 10 percent of government tax revenue.

Two-thirds of young men in China take to smoking, mostly before the age of 20, and around half of them are eventually killed by the habit unless they quit, a study showed last year.

4 Chinese nationals sentenced for peddling contraband cigarettes on WeChat

May 6th, 2016
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http://news.asiaone.com/news/crime/4-chinese-nationals-sentenced-peddling-contraband-cigarettes-wechat

cigarette1200_sgcustoms_0

SINGAPORE – A total of four Chinese nationals – in three separate cases – have been sentenced for their involvement in contraband cigarette activities using the Chinese instant messaging platform WeChat.

In the first case, a 26-year-old man was sentenced on Wednesday (May 4) to five months’ imprisonment for peddling contraband cigarettes via WeChat.

Singapore Customs said in a press statement today that Zhang Daolong was arrested by customs officers as he was leaving his rented room in an apartment in Lorong 28 Geylang on April 28.

More than 235 cartons of contraband cigarettes were seized. The amount of duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded exceeded $20,110.

Zhang was one of the four Chinese nationals nabbed by Singapore Customs in the last seven weeks for peddling contraband cigarettes on WeChat.

In the second case, a married couple was sentenced on April 14 to 12 weeks imprisonment for their involvement in contraband cigarette activities.

Ma Feng, 32, and Zhang Qiuping, 33, had set up WeChat accounts to attract potential buyers for their contraband cigarettes.

Ma was in charge of liaising with contraband cigarette suppliers while his wife, Zhang, liaised with and delivered the contraband cigarettes to their buyers, said the Singapore Customs statement.

Zhang was arrested in Woodlands Avenue 6 on April 12 when she was delivering contraband cigarettes to buyers.

Her husband was arrested when custom officers raided the couple’s rented room in an HDB flat in Woodlands Ring Road.

More than 67 cartons of contraband cigarettes were seized in this operation. The amount of duty and GST evaded exceeded $5,720.

In the last case, Liu Huawen, 33, was sentenced on March 14 to three months’ imprisonment and a fine of $9,200 or in default two months and two weeks’ imprisonment.

Liu was arrested by Singapore Customs officers on March 11 when he was delivering contraband cigarettes in Jurong West Street 62. The officers then raided Liu’s rented room in a housing flat nearby.

More than 94 cartons of contraband cigarettes were seized in this operation. The amount of duty and GST evaded exceeded $8,050.

Investigations revealed that Liu had sourced for suppliers and buyers of contraband cigarettes via WeChat.

Mr Yeo Ban Meng, head of Suppression and Community Engagement, Singapore Customs, said: “We are keeping a close watch on such illegal activities on WeChat and other social media platforms.”

“Offenders will be severely punished in accordance with the law,” he added.

Buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, having in possession or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under the Customs Act and the GST Act.

Offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded, and/or jailed for up to six years.

The minimum court fines for first-time and repeat offenders of tobacco-related offences are $2,000 and $4,000 respectively. Repeat offenders who are caught with more than two kilogrammes of tobacco products will also face mandatory jail sentences.

Mr Yeo said: “We urge members of the public to report to Singapore Customs any suspected contraband cigarette activities they come across on instant messaging platforms, and help us to stop such criminal activities from taking place in their neighbourhood.”

Members of the public with information on smuggling activities or evasion of customs duty or GST can call the Singapore Customs hotline at 1800-2330000 or email the authority at customs_intelligence@customs.gov.sg.

stephluo@sph.com.sg

 

Electronic cigarette marketing tactics in mainland China

Apr 12th, 2016
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http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2016/04/12/tobaccocontrol-2015-052824.short?g=w_tobaccocontrol_ahead_tab

China produces 41% and consumes >38% of the world’s cigarettes.1 It is also a global production and export centre of the electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) industry. Around 95% of the world’s e-cigarettes are manufactured in China, mainly in the southeastern metropolis of Shenzhen,2 but the market share of e-cigarettes is tiny within the country.2 According to the most recent data of the International Tobacco Control Survey, only 2% of adult current or former smokers in China had ever used e-cigarettes in 2009.3 However, e-cigarette use has become increasingly popular, particularly among young people.4 The large smoker population and the hardening tobacco control measures (many cities have enacted local smoke-free laws,5 and a nationwide smoke-free law has been drafted6) create a huge potential for the e-cigarette market in the country…

Shanghai considers city-wide ban on smoking in public areas

Apr 9th, 2016
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http://english.cctv.com/2016/04/09/VIDEIm13t9lRKSJlgPxL7x2a160409.shtml

Shanghai has submitted a draft amendment on a city-wide ban on smoking to the legislative body. It follows the growing trend of anti-smoking rules across China. Officials are seeking input from various government agencies.

Currently in Shanghai, there are 13 types of public areas where smoking is banned. If the amendment bill is passed, the new legislation will be a complete ban which applies to all public venues. Shanghai then will be third city in China after Shenzhen and Beijing which have enacted a city-wide ban on smoking.

It’s not clear yet if these smoking bans are actually stopping smokers from lighting up.The figures from the medical side is appalling. More than 1 million people in China die every year in tobacco related illnesses.

About 740 million are routinely exposed to secondhand smoke, contributing to another 100,000 deaths annually. Local health authorities conducted a survey last year, it showed 94 percent of Shanghai residents are in favor of the law.”

“I think it’s very necessary. I don’t smoke and it’s very unpleasant for me to smell [?inhale? breathe?] smoke in some public areas.”

“Many people in public areas are unaware of others. Most women don’t smoke but they are the victims of secondhand smoke. It’s not fair. I am also a mother. I’m worried about my kid in some public areas with smokers. I think a city-wide ban on smoking is a good move.”

“I fully support the move of the new legislation. The current regulation doesn’t cover all the public areas. We are exposed to a lot of risks from secondhand smoke, which isn’t fair to non-smokers. I think the reason for the limited effect of the current regulation is that enforcement isn’t strict. The fine is affordable and it’s hard to get evidence when someone’s smoking and report to the appropriate departments or have them find it. I think the new legislation should focus more on that. What really matters is the effectiveness of enforcement.”

Gruesome pictorial warnings could save millions of smokers’ lives

Mar 24th, 2016
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On March 16, 2016, last day of the two sessions of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Duan Tieli, deputy director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA), also a deputy to the NPC, told the media that China had no plans to increase pictorial warnings on cigarette packages since such photos of smokers’ darkened teeth and rotten lungs or images of skulls were not consistent with “traditional Chinese cultural values.”

Duan may not have known but in 2008, when WHO conducted its third session of signature countries that had signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a great majority of those countries had already passed the resolution that cigarette packages should carry pictorial warnings as required.

Meanwhile, however, a Chinese delegate representing the STMA argued that Chinese cigarette packages can only display pictures of famous mountains and great rivers to reflect traditional Chinese historical and cultural heritage, instead of showing ugly pictures to humiliate and disrespect the Chinese people.

As soon as this remark was made, the speaker was booed off-stage and that night all deputies at the session passed a resolution to give China the Dirty Ashtray Award, stating that China had not supported the requirement of displaying pictorial warnings on cigarette packages and that it had mocked the FCTC rules by showing beautiful pictures at the cost of public health.

Furthermore, by May 2015, 85 countries globally had already adopted the practice of showing pictorial warnings on cigarette packages, including many Asian countries and regions such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Taiwan, etc. China has been left far behind.

Peng Liyuan, the first lady of China, has made her concerns and commitment for tobacco control public. She became an ambassador for tobacco control in 2009. In 2012, to support World No-Tobacco Day activities, Peng and Bill Gates were dressed in red shirts printed with a slogan against passive smoking. They joined hands to promote the rights of non-smokers and practices for a smoke-free environment.

Actually, displaying pictorial warnings on cigarette packages happens to be the most effective, direct, and expense-saving approach to help smokers quit smoking. This is also required by the FCTC, in order to confront all smokers with a graphic design that discourages smoking.

In March 2009, I attended the 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Mumbai, India. At the site, I was interviewed by reporters and presented my idea at a discussion group session that pictorial warnings would serve three distinct and meaningful purposes, “to discourage smokers from smoking themselves; to make it improper for them to share cigarettes with others; and to render it impossible to use cigarettes as a gift to VIPs, superiors, and others.”

Consequently, the practice of having pictorial warnings on cigarette packages is a must. One thing remains clear and that is the Chinese government and its legislative branch should work together to make this happen and thus deliver urgently needed services to the people to improve their health conditions.

Finally, the STMA, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, should fulfill its mission of tobacco control instead of looking to boost its own profits.

Tobacco control, which benefits China and its people as a whole, deserves a great push immediately and forcefully. Adding pictorial warnings on cigarette packages is a necessity and an effective approach to facilitate the whole process.

The author is a tobacco control specialist and current affairs commentator for CCTV News. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn Follow us on Twitter @GTopinion

Smoking ban enforced at Confucius tourist attractions sites

Feb 7th, 2016
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http://www.newsghana.com.gh/smoking-ban-enforced-at-confucius-tourist-attractions-sites/

Three venues – the Temple, the Family Mansion and the Cemetery of Confucius (551-479 BC), have banned smoking.

The new ban is also applied to the gate towers, ancient trees, ticket offices and some enclosed areas, said the administration of cultural heritage in Qufu City, where the three venues are located.

Born in what is today Qufu, of Shandong Province, Confucius founded the school of thought that became known as Confucianism. He is believed to be the first person to have set up private schools in China.

UNESCO World Heritage sites, the three spots host around four million visitors each year.

Ancient Chinese architects used a lot of wood instead of stone to build houses, temples and gardens, so these buildings are fire risks.

The three tourist attractions are also home to 10,270 ancients trees.

China is yet to have national legislation on smoking in public places, but to date 16 cities have bylaws on tobacco control.

China’s quit-smoking efforts under fire as more take up the habit

Jan 28th, 2016
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Zhuang Pinghui pinghui.zhuang@scmp.com

More people started smoking than gave up in China in the last five years, pointing to a lack of services for those who want to quit, according to a tobacco control advocacy group.

Releasing its “A Civil Society Perspective: Tobacco Control in China 2015” report on Tuesday, the ThinkTank Research Centre for Health Development said that of the nearly 40 per cent of smokers who said they wanted to quit, only 14.4 per cent succeeded. The number of people who quit smoking in that time “increased by 13.3 million” fewer than the number of people who started lighting up.

The report reviewed China’s efforts in the decade since the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control came into effect in the country.

Under the China Tobacco Control Plan 2012-2015, the government aimed to cut smoking from 28.1 per cent of adults to below 25 per cent, but a national survey last year found as much as 27.7 per cent of adults were smokers, on par with levels five years ago. That amounted to 15 million more smokers, given the increase in population.

“This figure should be a call for leaders, legislators, decision makers, that more – much, much more – needs to be done,” said Bernhard Schwartlander, the WHO’s representative in China.

Only three to five per cent of heavy smokers quit on their own. Health authorities set up quit clinics in 31 provinces and cities in 2014, but by last year only six had seen more than 200 patients. “The public fails to recognise smoking as an addictive disease. We need to recognise the importance of clinics to help people quit,” Wu Yiqun, from the centre, said.

The report said the tobacco industry also lobbied against graphic warnings on cigarette packaging, fearing that its highly profitable high-end cigarettes would be downgraded from luxury gifts to fast-moving consumer goods.

“Indulging the tobacco industry’s refusal to print graphic warnings on the package has cost the public the most economic, direct and effective way of education on the harm of tobacco to health,” the report said.

The report also criticised the authorities’ reluctance to use taxes to deter smokers, one of the most effective tobacco control measures identified by the WHO.

The WHO says tax hikes must be sufficient to make tobacco expensive enough for most smokers to think about quitting.

The State Council increased the tax on tobacco from 5 per cent to 11 per cent last year but cigarettes on the mainland are still some of the cheapest in the world.

A packet of mid-range cigarettes that sold for 5.5 yuan (HK$6.51) in 2010 cost 9.90 yuan last year. Some packs cost as little as 2 yuan.
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Source URL: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1906324/chinas-quit-smoking-efforts-under-fire-more-take-habit

School of Public Health Receives $867,000 Grant to Continue Tobacco Control Work in Chinese Cities

Jan 19th, 2016
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Georgia State University’s School of Public Health has received a grant of more than $867,000 from Pfizer Inc. to continue working with Chinese health officials to implement tobacco control programs in five major cities in China.

http://news.gsu.edu/2016/01/19/school-of-public-health-receives-867000-grant-to-continue-tobacco-control-work-in-chinese-cities/

China produces more tobacco and has more smokers than any country in the world. The grant supports ongoing work with officials to develop policies and programs to protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke, encourage smokers to quit and prevent women, children and young adults from starting smoking.

The project is led by principal investigator Dr. Michael Eriksen, dean of the School of Public Health; Pam Redmon, executive director of the China Tobacco Control Partnership and administrative director of the School of Public Health’s Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science; and Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, vice president for global health at Emory University and former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Five Chinese cities were chosen for the effort based on their leaders’ readiness to support tobacco control efforts and the presence of public health organizations positioned to lead programs in their communities. They are Chongqing (with a population of 33 million), Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi’an (famous for its terracotta army) and Xiamen. Together, the five partner cities have a population of more than 69 million people.

“China’s cities have a unique opportunity to lead from the ‘bottom up’ to change tobacco use social norms,” Redmon said. “In fact, they may be the driving force in changing the landscape of smoking and curbing the tobacco epidemic in China.”

As China’s population continues to become more urbanized, the role of cities will only grow, Eriksen noted.

“The idea is to shift the social norms in China, to make smoking less socially acceptable,” Eriksen said. “Eventually, that will lead to more Chinese smokers wanting to quit, and fewer people taking up the habit. Targeting cities for these effort allows us to have the greatest impact on the largest number of people.”

The ongoing project, Diffusion of Tobacco Control Fundamentals to Other Large Chinese Cities, also includes partnerships with China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission (formerly the Ministry of Health), ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development, a nongovernmental group based in Beijing, and the China CDC.

This is the second year of funding from Pfizer to support the work in China. Last year, the company granted nearly $850,000 to the School of Public Health to fund the first year of the three-year project.

Cancer burden with ageing population in urban regions in China

Jan 1st, 2016
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Cancer burden with ageing population in urban regions in China: projection on cancer registry data from World Health Organization.

https://www.urotoday.com/recent-abstracts/urologic-oncology/prostate-cancer/92697-cancer-burden-with-ageing-population-in-urban-regions-in-china-projection-on-cancer-registry-data-from-world-health-organization.html

China is facing the challenges of an expanding ageing population and the impact of rapid urbanization, cancer rates are subsequently increasing. This study focuses on the changes of the ageing population and projects the incidence of common ageing-related cancers in the urban regions in China up to 2030.

Cancer incidence data and population statistics in China were extracted from the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Due to improving longevity in China, continuous and remarkable increasing trends for the lung, colorectal and prostate cancers are expected.

The rate of expanding ageing population was taken into account when predicting the trend of cancer incidence; the estimations of ageing-related cancers were more factual and significant than using the conventional approach of age standardization.

The incidence rates of lung, colorectal and prostate cancers will continue to rise in the future decades due to the rise of ageing population. Lifestyle modification such as cutting tobacco smoking rates and promoting healthier diets as well as cancer screening programs should be a health system priority in order to decrease the growing burden of cancer-related mortality and morbidity.

British medical bulletin. 2016 Jan 01 [Epub ahead of print]

Kelvin K F Tsoi, Hoyee W Hirai, Felix C H Chan, Sian Griffiths, Joseph J Y Sung

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