WHO Urges China to Tackle State Tobacco Monopoly in Battle on Smoking
Beijing: China must separate the conflicting promotion and prevention roles of its state tobacco monopoly to reduce smoking-related deaths, which number as much as 1 million a year, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.
With more than 300 million smokers, China is the world's largest producer and consumer of tobacco. The government has pledged to curb smoking but its efforts have had little success.
The country's State Tobacco Monopoly Administration controls the world's single largest manufacturer of tobacco products, China National Tobacco Corporation, but also wields power over policymaking on tobacco control and enforcement.
Anti-smoking campaigners say this dynamic has long undermined their efforts to curb the habit.
WHO's director-general, Dr Margaret Chan, said she had advised China's tobacco monopoly to separate the government agency functions from the state tobacco firm, and expected the Chinese government would take her advice.
"I believe the Chinese government will implement (this change) step by step, according to their procedure," Chan, speaking in Cantonese, told a news conference concluding her official visit to China.
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