In China, industry push-back stubs out anti-smoking gains

BEIJING: Earlier this year, the city of Hangzhou, home to the internet giant Alibaba, was poised to join Beijing, Shanghai and a handful of other urban areas in banning smoking in public places, part of a long-running campaign against tobacco use in China.

But, like the country’s broader anti- smoking campaign, the Hangzhou initiative then lost momentum. Instead of blanket bans on smoking in public indoor spaces, the city revised its regulations to allow smoking in designated areas in train or bus stations, as well as in bars or karaoke clubs.

Opposition to the tougher rules, according to a top national tobacco control official, was led by China National Tobacco Corp, the state monopoly.

The company has reported rising sales over the last year, which anti-tobacco campaigners say has helped to stall earlier successes in the national anti- smoking campaign.

The official declined to be named, citing a lack of approval to speak to the media.

“When it comes to the tobacco industry’s obstruction and interference in implementing specific tobacco control articles, China has a serious problem,” Yang Gonghuan, the former head of tobacco control at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a recent launch event for her book, “Tobacco Control in China.”

In the book, Yang details what she characterises as China Tobacco’s efforts to thwart control measures by interfering with policy-making, spreading “false science” about the safety of low-tar cigarettes, promoting a smoking culture and criticising anti-tobacco advocates for working with foreign organisations.

The company did not respond to faxes and phone calls seeking comment.

In official statements, China Tobacco says it is trying to improve public health by fulfilling tobacco control obligations and working to decrease things like tar in cigarettes.

China Tobacco is huge, powerful and opaque.

Selling 98 per cent of the cigarettes in China under brands such as Red Pagoda Mountain and Double Happiness, the unlisted company is the world’s biggest cigarette-maker by volume, generating revenue last year of 1.1 trillion yuan (US$172 billion).

It accounts for roughly 7 to 11 percent of China’s taxes.

In 2015, after China rolled out measures under the World Health Organization’s tobacco control convention, including a tax hike, health warnings on cigarette packets, advertising curbs, and public smoking bans, tobacco sales dropped for the first time since 2000. That trend continued into 2016.

In Beijing, tobacco sales dropped 8 percent in 2016 after smoking was banned in public places in July 2015, according to state media.

“When they saw the statistics, China Tobacco started to fight the policy at all costs,” the tobacco control official said. — Reuters