Pictures of rotten lungs, a grisly death's head and black teeth – all these horrible images will soon be seen inscribed on cigarette boxes made in China. The measure is geared to tackle China's increasingly serious problem of juvenile smoking.

According to a survey conducted on 11,957 high school students in Tianjin, Chongqing, Shandong and Guangdong, 21.8 percent of these youths tried smoking during their first year in junior middle school. When the survey was conducted, 22.5 percent claimed to have made at least one attempt before. Current statistics reveal that the smoking population in China starts at an average age as low as 10.7.

How to prevent young kids from taking an interest in smoking?

When China joined the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the country made a commitment to enact stricter policies that reinforced regulations on tobacco pricing, packaging, sales and advertisements. Presently the government is drumming up new measures to combat smoking.

(China.org.cn by Chen Xia, September 11, 2007)