China published a plan to reduce the world’s largest population of smokers as part of a 2005 treaty, without implementing recommendations such as warning labels that include photos of rotten teeth and diseased lungs.

China plans to cut the number of smokers to 25 percent of the population by 2015 from 28.1 percent in 2010, according to the plan published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology yesterday, seven years after the country signed the treaty that recommends the graphic warning labels.

The government will “comprehensively” prohibit smoking in public places and ban ads, promotion and sponsorship by tobacco companies, according to the plan. There is no mention of tax rates in the plan.

China has more than 300 million smokers, including half the adult male population, and about 740 million people are exposed to second-hand smoke risks, the ministry said. The tobacco industry accounts for 20 million jobs and contributed 6 percent of fiscal revenues in 2010, the ministry said.

“The plan carries a heavy smell of cigarettes,” Wu Yiqun, a director at the Beijing-based ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development. “It’s a compromise result between the tobacco industry and the Health Ministry, and it seems the tobacco side has the upper hand.” The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration was involved in the plan’s preparation.

Wu, a former deputy director at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, singled out the lack of graphic photos as a weakness. Australia, Canada and most European Union members have introduced such warnings or have agreed to do so, according to the World Health Organization website.

“It means China’s tobacco control efforts will be weak compared to mainstream international practices,” Wu said. The lack of any plan to increase taxes on tobacco is another weakness, she said.

The WHO recommended in March that China should almost triple excise taxes on tobacco products to 70 percent from 26 percent, to dissuade young people from taking up the habit. Half of the country’s smokers spend 5 yuan (80 cents) or less for a packet of 20 cigarettes, the WHO said.

Smoking, which is linked to 1 million deaths a year in China, is endangering the labor force, Health Minister Chen Zhu said in April.

Using cigarettes as gifts or gestures of friendship is still a popular practice in the country, and many poor regions rely on the industry to generate jobs and fiscal revenue, the industry ministry said.

Cigarette production and consumption in China both increased by 3 percent last year, according to data from Bloomberg Industries. China’s share of world cigarette consumption increased to 40 percent last year from 35 percent in 2006. Consumption in the rest of the world has declined steadily since 2000.

The brother of Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang should be removed from his post as a top official in China’s state-owned tobacco monopoly to avoid conflicts of interest, according to a report published by the Washington-based Brookings Institution in October. Li last month took the No.2 position in China’s new leadership and is now oversees public health.

China’s new tobacco plan was jointly prepared by the ministries of industry, health, finance and foreign affairs; and the general administrations of tobacco, customs, safety and industry and commerce. (Bloomberg)



<관련 한글 기사>



중국 "담배광고•공공장소 흡연 금지할 것"

세계 최다 흡연인구를 보유한 중국이 흡연자 수를 줄이기 위해 공공장소 흡연과 담배광고를 금지하기로 했다.

중국 공업정보화부는 2010년 기준으로 전체 인구의 28.1%에 달하는 흡연자를 2015년까지 25%로 줄인다는 목표 아래 이런 정책을 시행할 것이라고 21일 밝혔다.

공업정보화부가 발표한 흡연자 감소 계획에는 "공공장소에서의 흡연을 철저히 금지시킬 것", "담배회사의 광고•판촉•후원(스폰서십) 금지"가 포함돼 있다.

이에 대해 담배 관련 세금 인상이 없고 흡연으로 손상된 장기 사진 같은 강력한 경고 메시지를 담배갑에 새기는 조치도 없다는 점에서 업계와 타협한 결과로 봐야한다는 비판론이 나왔다.

질병통제예방센터 부소장을 지낸 뒤 현재 보건 분야 싱크탱크 활동을 하는 우이췬씨는 "보건 당국이 담배업계와 타협한 결과이며 업계가 우위를 점한 것으로 보인다"고 평가했다.

실제로 이번 계획을 준비하는 과정에 담배산업을 독점적으로 총괄하는 국가연초전매국(國家烟草專賣局)이 개입했다.

현재 중국 흡연인구는 3억명이 넘는 것으로 알려져있다. 이 가운데 절반은 남성으로 파악된다. 여기에 간접흡연 위험에 노출된 인구도 7억4천만명으로 추산된다.

공업정보화부 통계로 2010년 현재 중국의 담배산업은 일자리 2천만개를 제공하며 재정수입 가운데 6%를 차지한다.