Health call: Kids, tobacco not good mix
By Wang Zhenghua (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-05-31 22:04

Smokers under 18 years old may find gaining access to cigarettes is not as it was in Beijing, even though many of them go into tobacco stores on the pretext of buying cigarettes for their parents.

As many as 1,000 tobacco agencies in the capital vowed on Sunday -- the day before the World No Tobacco Day -- that they will no longer sell tobacco to minors, including those claiming the tobacco products are actually for adults.

Also, the Beijing-based Star Light institution, which is involved in children's safety and health education, along with a handful of other organizations has put a warning notice in voluntary agencies states "cigarettes here not for minors."

The city's tobacco authority is behind the plan.

According to Liu Wei, an official with Star Light, findings released by the World Health Organization indicate there are 1.1 billion smokers in the world, 70 per cent of whom took to tobacco before they reached 18.

In China, the number of regular smokers is estimated to be 350 million, or around one fifth of the population.

And among the massive number of smokers, one out of seven is a juvenile, China Central Television reports.

Manwhile, the WHO's website states that tobacco has become the second major cause of death in the world, and if current smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2025, or a total of 650 million people killed that year.

"It's necessary to keep minors away from tobacco," Liu told China Daily in a telephone interview.

He hailed the campaign to call for tobacco shops to quit selling cigarettes to juveniles.

"The notice there not only warn young people not to buy cigarettes in those agencies," said the official, " it reminds stores that they have promised not to sell tobacco to youths."

Nonetheless, Liu still expressed some worries because at the moment, since the city does not outlaw selling tobaccos to children, and there are no penalties that can be imposed on unethical shops.

An employee in the capital's Shuangjing area told China Daily that his store, which upholds a good credibility, is able to stop selling tobacco to young people as long as they promised.

But Wang Hao, a middle school student in Beijing who has smoked for one and a half years , says he can easily obtain access to cigarettes at grocery stores near his school.

"This problem can only be resolved by laws," said Liu, adding that the issue has been on the agenda of the municipal people's congress and the relevant regulation will come out in the near future.

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