740 million Chinese exposed to second-hand smoke once a day in a week
Some 740 million people in China, including 182 million children, are exposed to second-hand smoke at least once a day in a week, leading to 100,000 Chinese deaths every year, said the latest report of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday.
According to the report released at a press conference in Beijing, more than 1 million people die each year in China from tobacco-related illnesses, and the number is expected to triple by 2050 if the smoking habit continues.
The report, jointly released by the WHO, the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was based on a survey conducted between 2006 and 2014 in seven cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou in Guangdong Province and Shanghai. The data were collected from 5,600 adult smokers and 1,400 non-smokers.
Liang Xiaofeng, CDC's deputy director, said China, the world's largest tobacco producer and consumer, has over 300 million smokers, some 53 percent of whom are male, news site thepaper.cn reported on Monday.
About 72 percent of non-smokers aged 15 and above have been suffering from second-hand smoke, he said.
A survey conducted between 2013 and 2014 showed that 72.9 percent of junior high students were exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke at home, at indoor and outdoor public spaces, or in public vehicles.
"China has the highest rate of smoking in workplaces and homes, and among the highest rates in restaurants and bars. This puts the health of millions of non-smokers at risk every single day," Dr Geoffrey T. Fong, principal investigator of the ITC Project, said at the conference.
"China's addiction to tobacco is taking a dreadful toll on its health, its society, and its economy. A national smoke-free law is the only way to effectively protect all of China's population from the harms of tobacco smoke - and the report we are releasing today demonstrates the urgent importance of this," said Dr Bernhard Schwartländer, WHO Representative in China.
Beijing has implemented what WHO called "the strongest smoking ban" from June 1, requiring all indoor public places to be 100 percent smoke-free.
"Beijing's comprehensive law sets an example for the whole country. Although there have been some smoke-free policies in other Chinese cities, they have been poorly enforced. We need more stringent laws, effective enforcement and mass education campaigns to enlighten people about the dangers of inhaling second-hand smoke," said Liang.
The report also shows relatively high levels of support for smoke-free policies in China. According to a survey conducted between September 2011 and November 2012 in seven major Chinese cities, including Beijing, over half or close to half of smokers in each city supported a complete ban on smoking indoors.
