卫
生专家警告，中国烟草相关疾病每年致死人数可能会在20年后增加到现在的三倍。此时，中国兑现国际控烟承诺的最后期限即将到来，活动人士说，北京未能按时完成任务。
Associated Press
一名男子在北京天安门广场附近吸烟
参与报告撰写的中国癌症基金会副理事长赵平说，中央政府可能知道有问题，但还不知道这个问题造成的长期代价超过了从烟草销售中提取的收入。报告作者还包括北京清华大学经济学家胡鞍钢，以及中国疾病预防与控制中心副主任杨功焕等人。
中国吸烟人群估计有3亿人，接近13亿总人口的四分之一，比其他任何国家的吸烟人数都多得多。
中国不仅是世界上最大的烟草消费国，也是最大的烟草生产国。其主要烟草公司都是国有，并为国库贡献收入，活动人士长期以来认为，这有碍中国应对吸烟危害的行动。
周四这份题为"控烟与中国未来"的报告说，截至2005年，烟草相关疾病每年造成120万人左右死亡。报告警告说，如果不采取更严格的措施，到2030年，这个数字可能会上升到每年350万人。
报告发布过后的1月9日，是中国政府在室内公共场所、工作场所、公共交通工具禁烟的截止日期，这是它于2006年签署世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)2005年《烟草控制框架公约》(Framework Convention on Tobacco Control)时做出的承诺。包括中国在内的168个缔约国约定在2011年之前限制吸烟，部分手段是禁烟、涨价和收税。
卫生专家说，在这个截止日期到来之际，中国远未兑现承诺。虽然也做了一些重要的努力，但为时已晚，且执行不力。直到去年，有关部门才宣布禁止在中小学吸烟。到2010年5月份，才对国有医院和政府建筑下达禁烟令。
国际防治结核与肺病联合会(International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease)高级项目官员甘泉（音）说中国履约不力。他说医院和政府办公场所的烟民仍然是随处可见。
为禁止在广播、电视和报纸上为香烟做广告而付出的努力也基本上是无果而终。禁烟专家说，烟草企业利用这些限制中的漏洞，让自己的商标出现在其他公司产品的广告宣传中。
该组织呼吁实行涵盖面更加广泛的全国性立法来加大对室内吸烟的限制，并减少二手烟的危害。
中国国家烟草专卖局负责烟草的生产和销售，同时也负责禁烟法规的执行工作，这就产生了一种内在的利益冲突。
据国家烟草专卖局，2010年烟草行业的销售和税收收入接近人民币6000亿元，高于上年的5130亿元。
这份报告说，与烟草相关的健康成本去年达到了近620亿元。烟草的所有税收收入都要上缴给国家烟草局，而北京将这些收入中的多少用到了抑制烟瘾或是吸烟相关的健康成本上面，答案还未可知。
男性仍然是烟草的目标顾客。据上述报告，在中国有近60%的成年男性吸烟。
中国癌症基金会的赵平在一个新闻通气会上说，简要的了解一下目前中国的吸烟问题，它就像是上世纪40年代的美国。人们根本没有意识到健康风险。
报告出炉之时正值中国政府酝酿下一个"五年计划"之际，该计划将在3月份召开的全国人大会议上被最终确定。中国疾病预防控制中心建议政府调拨更多资金用于烟草控制，包括法律的实施以及提高公众意识。
报告的作者建议政府增加烟草税。据财政部和国家税务总局，中国政府在过去20年间四度提高了烟草税。
2009年，中国将高档香烟──售价超过7元──的税率从45%提高至56%。中档香烟的税率由30%提高至36%。在中国，一包香烟的平均售价、含税在内为5元，约合76美分。据无烟儿童运动(Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids)，在美国，每包香烟的平均税费为1.45美元。
世卫组织"无烟倡议行动"(Tobacco-Free Initiative)的驻华负责人沙罗(Sarah England)说，中国未能遵守世卫组织的禁烟协议这不会导致该组织对它实行惩罚措施，也不会影响中国作为世卫组织成员的身份。沙罗说，中国自愿签署了这一框架协议，中国政府意识到了吸烟是一个问题。
一些地方政府曾试图在全国性的禁烟活动之外再实行自己的禁烟法。南昌市上个月试图在所有公共场所、餐厅、酒吧和办公室实行室内禁烟令 。但南昌市人大代表最终未能通过这一禁令。若禁令获得通过，它将对违规的企业和个人处以罚款，并将成为中国的此类法律中最为严格的一部。
Laurie Burkitt
（更新完成）
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
The annual death toll from tobacco-related illnesses in China could triple over the next two decades, health experts warned ahead of a deadline for the country to implement international commitments to curb smoking that activists say Beijing has failed to meet.
In a report issued Thursday, a group of 60 Chinese public-health experts, officials and economists argued that state ownership of the tobacco industry continues to stymie real progress in fighting tobacco--despite the mounting health and financial costs.
'While the national government may know it has a problem, it still doesn't understand that the long-term costs of this problem outweigh the revenue pulled in from tobacco sales,' said Zhao Ping, deputy director general of the Cancer Foundation of China, who contributed to the report. The report's authors also include Hu Angang, an economist at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and Yang Gonghuan, a deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
China has an estimated 300 million smokers, nearly a quarter of its 1.3 billion population and by far the largest number of any country.
China isn't only the world's largest tobacco consumer, but it is also the largest producer. Its main tobacco companies are state-owned and feed revenue into state coffers, which activists have long said conflicts with the country's efforts to address smoking's harmful effects.
(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal website, WSJ.com.)
Thursday's report, 'Tobacco Control and China's Future,' said that tobacco-related illness killed about 1.2 million people a year in China as of 2005. It warned that the number could rise to 3.5 million a year by 2030 if stricter measures aren't taken.
The report was published ahead of a Jan. 9 deadline to ban smoking in public indoor venues, workplaces and public transportation that Beijing agreed to in 2006, when it signed the World Health Organization's 2005 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The treaty's 168 signatories, including China, agreed to restrict smoking by 2011, in part through bans, price increases and taxes.
China has fallen far short of meeting the deadline, health experts say. While it has made some significant efforts, they have come too late and enforcement has been spotty. Authorities announced only last year a ban on smoking at primary and secondary schools. It wasn't until May that they created a smoking ban in state-owned hospitals and government buildings.
Compliance has been lax, said Gan Quan, a senior project officer with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. Smokers are still rampant in hospitals and government offices, Gan said.
Attempts to ban advertising for cigarettes on radio, television and newspapers have also largely failed. Cigarette companies have found loopholes in the restrictions, placing their logo on advertisements for other companies' products, the antismoking experts said.
The group called for more comprehensive national laws to widen indoor smoking restrictions and reduce second-hand smoke exposure.
China's State Tobacco Monopoly administration is responsible for tobacco production and sales as well as implementation of antismoking laws, creating an inherent conflict of interest.
The tobacco industry pulled in nearly 600 billion yuan ($90.66 billion) from sales and taxes in 2010, up from 513 billion yuan a year earlier, according to the State Tobacco administration.
Health costs related to tobacco accounted for nearly 62 billion yuan last year, the report said, and are expected to remain a burden on the government. The State Tobacco administration collects all tax revenue from tobacco, and it isn't known how much of that revenue Beijing allocates to curbing tobacco addiction or smoking-related health costs.
Men remain tobacco's target consumers. Nearly 60% of China's adult male population smoke, according to the report.
'A snapshot of China's smoking problem now looks like America in the 1940s,' said Zhao of the Cancer Foundation of China at a media briefing. 'People just don't know the health risks.'
The report also comes as China's government is preparing its next five-year economic plan, due to be finalized by the National People's Congress in March. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that the government allocate more funding to tobacco control, including law enforcement and public awareness.
The report's authors advised the government to increase cigarette taxes. The Chinese government has raised cigarette taxes four times over the past 20 years, according to China's Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation.
In 2009, it raised the tax on premium cigarettes, those costing more than 7 yuan, to 56% from 45%. The tax on lower-grade cigarettes jumped to 36% from 30%. The median price of a pack of cigarettes in China, including the tax, is 5 yuan, or 76 U.S. cents. The average tax on cigarettes in the U.S. is $1.45 a pack, according to Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
China's failure to comply with the WHO's antitobacco treaty will not result in WHO penalties or affect its membership, said Sarah England, head of the Tobacco-Free Initiative at the WHO in China. 'China voluntarily signed the framework, and the government is aware that smoking is a problem,' England said.
Several municipal governments have tried to impose their own smoking laws, adding to national efforts. Nanchang, a city in southeastern China, attempted last month to ban indoor smoking in all public places, restaurants, bars and offices. Lawmakers were unable to pass the ban, which would have fined individual and corporate violators and would have been the strictest law of its kind in China.
Laurie Burkitt
In a report issued Thursday, a group of 60 Chinese public-health experts, officials and economists argued that state ownership of the tobacco industry continues to stymie real progress in fighting tobacco--despite the mounting health and financial costs.
'While the national government may know it has a problem, it still doesn't understand that the long-term costs of this problem outweigh the revenue pulled in from tobacco sales,' said Zhao Ping, deputy director general of the Cancer Foundation of China, who contributed to the report. The report's authors also include Hu Angang, an economist at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and Yang Gonghuan, a deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
China has an estimated 300 million smokers, nearly a quarter of its 1.3 billion population and by far the largest number of any country.
China isn't only the world's largest tobacco consumer, but it is also the largest producer. Its main tobacco companies are state-owned and feed revenue into state coffers, which activists have long said conflicts with the country's efforts to address smoking's harmful effects.
(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal website, WSJ.com.)
Thursday's report, 'Tobacco Control and China's Future,' said that tobacco-related illness killed about 1.2 million people a year in China as of 2005. It warned that the number could rise to 3.5 million a year by 2030 if stricter measures aren't taken.
The report was published ahead of a Jan. 9 deadline to ban smoking in public indoor venues, workplaces and public transportation that Beijing agreed to in 2006, when it signed the World Health Organization's 2005 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The treaty's 168 signatories, including China, agreed to restrict smoking by 2011, in part through bans, price increases and taxes.
China has fallen far short of meeting the deadline, health experts say. While it has made some significant efforts, they have come too late and enforcement has been spotty. Authorities announced only last year a ban on smoking at primary and secondary schools. It wasn't until May that they created a smoking ban in state-owned hospitals and government buildings.
Compliance has been lax, said Gan Quan, a senior project officer with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. Smokers are still rampant in hospitals and government offices, Gan said.
Attempts to ban advertising for cigarettes on radio, television and newspapers have also largely failed. Cigarette companies have found loopholes in the restrictions, placing their logo on advertisements for other companies' products, the antismoking experts said.
The group called for more comprehensive national laws to widen indoor smoking restrictions and reduce second-hand smoke exposure.
China's State Tobacco Monopoly administration is responsible for tobacco production and sales as well as implementation of antismoking laws, creating an inherent conflict of interest.
The tobacco industry pulled in nearly 600 billion yuan ($90.66 billion) from sales and taxes in 2010, up from 513 billion yuan a year earlier, according to the State Tobacco administration.
Health costs related to tobacco accounted for nearly 62 billion yuan last year, the report said, and are expected to remain a burden on the government. The State Tobacco administration collects all tax revenue from tobacco, and it isn't known how much of that revenue Beijing allocates to curbing tobacco addiction or smoking-related health costs.
Men remain tobacco's target consumers. Nearly 60% of China's adult male population smoke, according to the report.
'A snapshot of China's smoking problem now looks like America in the 1940s,' said Zhao of the Cancer Foundation of China at a media briefing. 'People just don't know the health risks.'
The report also comes as China's government is preparing its next five-year economic plan, due to be finalized by the National People's Congress in March. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that the government allocate more funding to tobacco control, including law enforcement and public awareness.
The report's authors advised the government to increase cigarette taxes. The Chinese government has raised cigarette taxes four times over the past 20 years, according to China's Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation.
In 2009, it raised the tax on premium cigarettes, those costing more than 7 yuan, to 56% from 45%. The tax on lower-grade cigarettes jumped to 36% from 30%. The median price of a pack of cigarettes in China, including the tax, is 5 yuan, or 76 U.S. cents. The average tax on cigarettes in the U.S. is $1.45 a pack, according to Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
China's failure to comply with the WHO's antitobacco treaty will not result in WHO penalties or affect its membership, said Sarah England, head of the Tobacco-Free Initiative at the WHO in China. 'China voluntarily signed the framework, and the government is aware that smoking is a problem,' England said.
Several municipal governments have tried to impose their own smoking laws, adding to national efforts. Nanchang, a city in southeastern China, attempted last month to ban indoor smoking in all public places, restaurants, bars and offices. Lawmakers were unable to pass the ban, which would have fined individual and corporate violators and would have been the strictest law of its kind in China.
Laurie Burkitt
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