Authorities announced on Tuesday that controls on the tobacco industry will be tightened in the run up to the Spring Festival, the Chinese lunar new year.
   
The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) said at a work meeting that regulators at all levels will crack down on any production or distribution of counterfeit cigarettes.

These products are manufactured to look like well-known brands, but are produced cheaply and are often substandard.
   
Throughout last year, 269,000 cases of counterfeit cigarette production were prosecuted, 2,805 illegal cigarette factories demolished and 1,208 convictions made.
   
The Spring Festival is usually a boom time for tobacco sales as, in a decidedly unhealthy start to the new year, Chinese often give cigarettes as presents to relatives and friends. According to the WHO, tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world.
   
The STMA said that, together with the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, they will increase efforts in clamping down on illicit production and distribution as well as on smuggling in coastal areas.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2005)