(ECNS) -- Some 70 percent of China's tobacco retail outlets fail to display signs prohibiting cigarette sales to minors while many display ads promoting tobacco, according to the latest survey by Chinese Association on Tobacco Control.
The survey of 11 Chinese cities released by the association on Tuesday found that 46.8 percent of retail outlets had tobacco ads, with Lanzhou topping the list at 87.9 percent displaying promotions. Shanghai had the lowest rate of 28.4 percent.
Previous studies found that with increased exposure to tobacco ads, the percentage of adolescents who make their first attempts to smoke or begin smoking also rises.
About 17.6 percent of retail outlets in the cities surveyed reported visits by adolescents, with Xi'an registering the highest percentage at 42.2 percent. Guangzhou reported the lowest rate at 4.5 percent. Among adolescents attempting to buy cigarettes, 9.7 percent succeeded while 68.3 percent were refused, the report said.
Guo Xin, a researcher at the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said of the 517 tobacco stores in the city's neighborhoods with primary and middle schools surveyed, 63.8 percent did not have signs refusing to sell tobacco products to minors in an eye-catching place, while 2.5 percent displayed tobacco ads.
Ma Yinghua, deputy head of the Institute of Child and Adolescent Health at Peking University, said ads play a role in the spread of tobacco use.
She cited a U.S. study that found the influence of tobacco ads and promotions had triple the impact on adolescents compared to adults and 37 percent of new smokers did so after watching smoking scenes on television. Cigarette sales dropped steeply in countries that banned all tobacco ads, it found.
Smoking can do severe harm to adolescent cardiovascular systems and increases the risk of developing chronic diseases at a younger age as adults, she said.
