BEIJING—China's government has failed to curb smoking in a country with the world's largest number of smokers because it is too comfortable with revenues from the tobacco monopoly it owns, a group of prominent public health experts and economists said Thursday.
These experts say the costs of not caring are about to get higher: Current trends show that by 2030, an estimated 3.5 million Chinese people will die from smoking a year -- three times the current level.
In a report titled "Tobacco Control and China's Future," the experts underscore increasing concerns that the government is jeopardizing the country's economic potential by refusing to take serious action to combat a widespread problem that escalates medical costs and hurts productivity.
"The health consequences of the tobacco epidemic are very serious and tobacco smoking has become the 'Top Killer' of the Chinese population," the report said. "While the (tobacco) industry remains a 'major taxpayer' today, it causes enormous social costs and overall poses a loss rather than a benefit to China."
The report pointed to a conflict of interest in the system: China's State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, which sets tobacco policy and enforces rules, is the same federal agency that controls the China National Tobacco Corp. -- the world's largest cigarette maker. The report criticized the administration for promoting tobacco production and sales and hampering efforts to strengthen tobacco control.
The report was timed for release days ahead of a Sunday deadline which China will fail to meet -- to ban smoking at public indoor venues under a global anti-tobacco treaty backed by the World Health Organization.
The treaty requires countries to fight smoking through measures that include raising cigarette prices and taxes, mandating health warnings on cigarette packs and banning tobacco advertising. Parties are also expected to ensure that all indoor public places, workplaces and public transport are smoke-free within five years of the treaty coming into force -- which in China's case was on Jan. 9, 2006.
Curbing tobacco use, which is linked to the deaths of at least 1 million people in China every year, is one of the greatest health challenges the country faces. But the habit is so entrenched in society that cigarette cartons are commonly exchanged as gifts, one study shows almost half of all male doctors smoke and tobacco companies are even allowed to sponsor schools.
Nearly 60 experts were involved in writing or reviewing the report, including its chief authors Dr. Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of the official Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Professor Hu Angang of Tsinghua University, one of China's best-known economists and a key policy adviser. Others who were consulted include Mao Yushi and Wu Jinglian, prominent reformist economists, and international public health advisers.
"This is the first 'critical' report of China's efforts on tobacco control from within China itself," said Judith Mackay, a World Lung Foundation senior policy adviser who reviewed the report and wrote a preface. "This speaks volumes of the strengthening of the health groups in China in countering the powerful Chinese national tobacco monopoly."
The report also attempts to quantify the cost to China from smoking. Last year, costs incurred from people being unable to work due to tobacco-related sickness and medical fees outweighed the tobacco industry's economic contributions, measured by its profits and jobs created, by 61.8 billion yuan ($9.3 billion), the report said.
The experts said funding for tobacco control remains too low for the needs of the country, and that leaders should prioritize the fight against it and work to develop a national law against smoking in indoor public places.
The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration could not immediately be reached for comment. The tobacco industry's position has usually been that measures to curb smoking would reduce revenue to the government and put tobacco farmers out of work.
Teh-wei Hu, professor emeritus in health economics at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the experts who reviewed the report and who has advised the government to raise cigarette prices, said political will is lacking because leaders often consider only the short-term benefits.
"When I talk to leaders in high-level positions, they say, 'Well, I know and people know that smoking is harmful, but I won't be popular if I raise the prices," Hu said. "What they're concerned about is their own popularity and position."
