China’s Deadly Smoking Addiction

A study shows that the smoking addiction is growing in China and by the year 2050 it may be the cause of about 3 million deaths a year in China.  This growing epidemic smoking addiction is the leading cause of premature death of half of the Chinese males.  There are at this time about 300 million smokers and they are living in a haze of tobacco smoke.  Smoking is declining in most countries but is on the rise in China.  About two-thirds of Chinese men are smokers and a small fraction of women smoke.  Most smokers receive a carton of cigarettes during Chinese holidays.  The average cost of a pack of cigarettes is just over $1 so even the poorest Chinese can afford a pack.  In some countries cigarette advertising is on the decline but not in China – they advertise in schools and health clinics.

Since the government owns one of the largest cigarette producers in the world it is rather difficult to enforce any prohibition of smoking in public places.  They turn out about 2.5 trillion cigarettes a year for at least a dozen different domestic brands.  According to reports 7% of the states revenue comes from the sale of tobacco products.  Because of this revenue it may very difficult to get the country to stray from their smoking addiction.