Hong Kong shows way to cut down on smoking
By Margie Mason |
March 27, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
NEARLY one in three smokers worldwide lights up in China, where cigarettes -- commonly given as gifts -- are so tightly woven into the culture some believe it's an impossible habit to kick. But a new report suggests the keys to quitting lie in the country's own backyard.
Hong Kong has successfully fought tobacco for two decades and has seen its smoking rate drop from 23 percent in 1982 when the campaign began to 12 percent in 2008.
The city hit cigarettes hard with taxes up to 300 percent, banned indoor smoking and promoted education through schools and public service announcements -- proving that smoking and Chinese culture aren't married for life.
About 30 percent of the world's smokers live in China, a number roughly equal to the entire population of the United States. It's a habit that will kill an estimated 2 million Chinese annually within the next 15 years in a country that's home to both the world's largest tobacco grower and cigarette producer, according to Jeffrey Koplan of the Emory Global Health Institute in Atlanta.
The Chinese mainland has taken some steps to reduce smoking, such as banning TV and radio ads and adding health warnings to packaging, and it was successful in banning smoking at 2008 Olympics venues.
But the government now needs to step up and confront its state-owned tobacco monopoly by slapping cigarettes with steep taxes, said Dr Judith Mackay, a World Health Organization senior policy adviser who's been a long-standing vocal leader of anti-smoking campaigns across Asia, working with China since the 1980s.
"You have to price them out of the hands and the pockets and the mouths of children," she said. "If you can get kids by the age of 19, they don't start smoking hardly after that."
In Hong Kong last year, the government levied another 50 percent tax increase on cigarettes to counter a resurgence in the number of smokers.
Hong Kong has successfully fought tobacco for two decades and has seen its smoking rate drop from 23 percent in 1982 when the campaign began to 12 percent in 2008.
The city hit cigarettes hard with taxes up to 300 percent, banned indoor smoking and promoted education through schools and public service announcements -- proving that smoking and Chinese culture aren't married for life.
About 30 percent of the world's smokers live in China, a number roughly equal to the entire population of the United States. It's a habit that will kill an estimated 2 million Chinese annually within the next 15 years in a country that's home to both the world's largest tobacco grower and cigarette producer, according to Jeffrey Koplan of the Emory Global Health Institute in Atlanta.
The Chinese mainland has taken some steps to reduce smoking, such as banning TV and radio ads and adding health warnings to packaging, and it was successful in banning smoking at 2008 Olympics venues.
But the government now needs to step up and confront its state-owned tobacco monopoly by slapping cigarettes with steep taxes, said Dr Judith Mackay, a World Health Organization senior policy adviser who's been a long-standing vocal leader of anti-smoking campaigns across Asia, working with China since the 1980s.
"You have to price them out of the hands and the pockets and the mouths of children," she said. "If you can get kids by the age of 19, they don't start smoking hardly after that."
In Hong Kong last year, the government levied another 50 percent tax increase on cigarettes to counter a resurgence in the number of smokers.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
