China smoking deaths could triple by 2030

A man smokes while resting on a chair near the Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Jan 5, 2011. -- PHOTO: AP

BEIJING - ANNUAL tobacco-related deaths in China could triple by 2030 without drastic steps to kick the nation's habit, said a report that blamed the Chinese cigarette industry for blocking anti-smoking efforts.

By 2030, over 3.5 million Chinese could die each year from smoking-related illnesses, compared with 1.2 million deaths in 2005, according to 'Tobacco Control and the Future of China", a joint report by Chinese and foreign experts.

The report, released on Thursday, said China would almost certainly miss a deadline to implement an indoor ban on smoking, a pledge made when China became a party to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2006.

Under the framework, China agreed to enact national legislation banning indoor smoking by this year. 

State media have said the deadline is January 9. However, no such ban has been put in place and smokers in China continue to light up freely in restaurants and office buildings.

'The tobacco industry has become the largest 'health-hazard' industry,' said the report, sponsored by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

'Although it is a major 'taxpayer,' the industry is generating a much greater social burden,' it said. China is now the world's largest tobacco producer and consumer and tobacco is the country's top killer, the report said. -- AFP