WHO urges China to tax smokers
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E-mail China Daily, July 19, 2012
In 2009, authorities increased tobacco tax by at least 6 percent, mostly on the more expensive brands.
"But that had little effect on curbing tobacco use, particularly the low-end brands," said Yang Gonghuan, former director of the tobacco control office under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tobacco tax, even after the hike, remained very low on a global scale.
"Countries are looking at how to increase tobacco tax and China should also raise the tax according to its own circumstances," Chan said.
China signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and ratified it in 2005.
The campaign to combat nicotine addiction falls under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which also oversees the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, often referred to as the China National Tobacco Corp.
Chan suggested that implementation of the WHO framework should be led by the Ministry of Health instead.
"I would confer an award to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to encourage them," she said.
Vice-Premier Li Keqiang also met Chan in Beijing on Wednesday.
Li congratulated Chan on her second term as director-general of WHO, which was announced in May.
Chan spoke highly of China's progress in medical reform, which, among other things, saw medical insurance coverage rise from 30 percent to 95 percent for residents in the past five years.
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