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Yunnan's relief scheme goes up in smoke
By Li Qian |
September 14, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE economic planning body of southwest China's Yunnan Province has denied a widely-panned plan to increase cigarette production by 400,000 boxes with an aim to boosting tax revenue in order to assist disaster relief in its earthquake-stricken areas.
Earlier media reports suggested that the Yunnan Province Development and Reform Commission had asked the central government for additional cigarette production quota worth 600 million yuan (US$94.7 million) in tobacco tax to assist in the reconstruction of Yiliang County where 81 people died in the earthquake that struck last Friday.
The commission said those reports were unfounded because the central government has allocated 100 million yuan for reconstruction in addition to the 9.5 billion yuan of relief fund.
More than 11,600 tents, 1,000 beds, 10,500 quilts, 54,300 packages of instant noodles and 78 tons of rice have also been sent to Yiliang, Beijing News reported yesterday.
Despite the commission's clarification, the reports have sparked public criticism.
Wu Yiqun, an anti-tobacco activist, said it would be an egregious error to bring relief for a disaster by creating another disaster. The promotion will damage China's image and hurt our people's health, while only the tobacco industry will gain huge profits, he added.
A non-government anti-smoking advocacy group, Think Tank Research Center for Health Development, said it had sent a protest letter to the country's top economic planner, accusing it of indulging in an "inappropriate" practice.
China is the biggest tobacco producer in the world and boasts more than 3 million smokers, the world's largest number.
According to the Ministry of Health, there are at least 69 carcinogenic substances in a cigarette and tobacco consumption kills roughly 1 million people a year in China.
That will rise to 3 million by 2050 if the smoking trend is not stopped, the ministry has warned.
The 400,000 boxes will be enough for 3 million people to smoke for a year, the group said.
Increasing the cigarette output quota is also against the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, it added.
In China, the tobacco industry, a major source of tax revenue, is strictly under central control and production quotas are set by the National Development and Reform Commission.
Earlier media reports suggested that the Yunnan Province Development and Reform Commission had asked the central government for additional cigarette production quota worth 600 million yuan (US$94.7 million) in tobacco tax to assist in the reconstruction of Yiliang County where 81 people died in the earthquake that struck last Friday.
The commission said those reports were unfounded because the central government has allocated 100 million yuan for reconstruction in addition to the 9.5 billion yuan of relief fund.
More than 11,600 tents, 1,000 beds, 10,500 quilts, 54,300 packages of instant noodles and 78 tons of rice have also been sent to Yiliang, Beijing News reported yesterday.
Despite the commission's clarification, the reports have sparked public criticism.
Wu Yiqun, an anti-tobacco activist, said it would be an egregious error to bring relief for a disaster by creating another disaster. The promotion will damage China's image and hurt our people's health, while only the tobacco industry will gain huge profits, he added.
A non-government anti-smoking advocacy group, Think Tank Research Center for Health Development, said it had sent a protest letter to the country's top economic planner, accusing it of indulging in an "inappropriate" practice.
China is the biggest tobacco producer in the world and boasts more than 3 million smokers, the world's largest number.
According to the Ministry of Health, there are at least 69 carcinogenic substances in a cigarette and tobacco consumption kills roughly 1 million people a year in China.
That will rise to 3 million by 2050 if the smoking trend is not stopped, the ministry has warned.
The 400,000 boxes will be enough for 3 million people to smoke for a year, the group said.
Increasing the cigarette output quota is also against the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, it added.
In China, the tobacco industry, a major source of tax revenue, is strictly under central control and production quotas are set by the National Development and Reform Commission.
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