Reported in the China Daily:
Han Qide, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress – the country’s top legislature – said the country faces a dire situation with more women, especially professionals, and youngsters taking to smoking – which directly or indirectly kills 1 million Chinese a year.
From an economic standpoint, the tobacco industry has long been a key source of tax, which accounted for about 240 billion yuan ($31.4 billion) in 2005, 10 per cent of total State revenues, official statistics show. Additionally, the industry sustains the livelihood of millions of tobacco farmers and also provides a great number of jobs in the production and distribution of cigarettes. At the local level, the situation is even bleaker as some provinces rely mainly on the tobacco industry as the main cash cow.
There seems to be a growing sense of hopelessness among China’s health authorities about any changes to this situation soon so it may be a long way to go before the Smoker’s Republic will ever get to a positive tipping point.
