[Intl-tobacco] Teenager Smoking on Rise in China: Report (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Teenager Smoking on Rise in China: Report
Source: NewsEdge, Wednesday, 4/12/00

BEIJING (April 11) XINHUA via NewsEdge Corporation - Almost one in every
six smokers in China is a teenager and if the present situation remains
unchanged, three million Chinese could die from smoking annually by the
year 2050, according to the "People's Daily".

There are some 50 million young smokers in China, the world's biggest
tobacco producer and consumer. There are some 320 million smokers in
China, or one fourth of smokers worldwide.

The average age of taking up smoking is three years younger compared with
1984. About 38 percent of people over 15 are smokers.

Medical studies show that smoking is closely linked with 25 kinds of
life-threatening illnesses, such as lung cancer, cardio and cerebral
vascular and heart diseases.

Lung cancer has been rising by 4.5 percent annually in China in recent
years.

Specialists with the Chinese Academy of Medical Science and the Chinese
Academy of Preventive Medicine said that if drastic changes are not made
to curb smoking among teenagers, ten million people worldwide might be
killed every year in the future, three million of whom are in China.