CHINA: Tobacco advertising to be banned by 2011
Updated
China has announced it will ban all tobacco advertising by 2011, under the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
China is the world's biggest cigarette producer and consumer.
Presenter: Xiaoning Mo
Speakers: Anne Jones, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health Australia
MO: In a report, the Chinese Ministry of Health says there are 350 million smokers in China, accounting for one third of the world's smoking population. China also produces a third of the world's tobacco. The report also says around a million Chinese die of smoking-relating diseases each year and that number is expected to rise to 3 million by 2050. China's smokers are picking up the habit earlier and earlier, and many have little knowledge of the serious risks smoking poses to their health. In addition, the report says millions of non-smokers are exposed to second-hand smoke, and says overall, few Chinese manage to quit.
Ms Wang is the spokeswoman for the China Tobacco Control Association. She says China already has laws banning tobacco advertising but many tobacco manufacturers exploit loopholes in the existing law, and that their brands are still frequently advertised during prime time. She calls these ads "invisible", because they show the brand name, without mentioning anything about cigarettes. Doctor Burke Fishburn, WHO's Western Pacific Regional Tobacco Free Initiative Coordinator, says China needs to take tobacco control seriously and should implement its existing legislation. He says Beijing may have economic reasons for failing to take stronger action, as the tax contribution from tobacco manufacturers' accounts for nearly 10 per cent of the government's gross revenue. Dr Fishburn says a change of attitude is required if the government's anti-smoking campaign is to succeed.
FISHBURN: The most difficult is really changing decision makers' attitudes about control of tobacco. For the longest time you've had decision makers themselves not really keen on doing anything about it, not really understanding the health impact of smoking, certainly not understanding the economic impact of smoking. Most of them saw it as completely harmless and - at the very worst - of tremendous economic benefit to the country because of the tobacco growing and tobacco manufacturing.
MO: Anne Jones, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health Australia, says Beijing needs to consider that the cost of caring for patients with smoking-related diseases could be higher than the tax income contributed by tobacco companies.
JONES: If China's experience is the same as in Australia what they will find is that the tax revenue the government collects from the sale of tobacco products is, if you compare that to the cost of smoking and the cost both direct and indirect of these tobacco products, those costs are normally three times what the revenue is. In other words in Australia we have $A7billion worth of revenue but the costs of smoking are estimated at $A21 billion. In other words three times greater is what it costs than the tax collected. I would expect that in China it's very similar.
MO: Anne Jones says China is now at the beginning of its comprehensive effort of tobacco control. She says the campaign will need to go much further than anti-smoking ads or a ban on tobacco advertising:
JONES: They need a major shift in their attitude towards curbing the tobacco epidemic because the Chinese government of course is a tobacco producer as well, and so they would be looking purely at the economic benefits from the revenue side. What the challenge for China is is to see the balance, to see both sides of the story, not only see that yes they are making some revenue, but the costs are much, much greater than the revenue in terms of health case costs, lost productivity.
