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NEWS: In brief BMJ 2004; 329: 188 [Full text]

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Why does the Chinese government allow BAT to open factory in China after it signed up to the WHO convention on tobacco control?

Tsung O Cheng, Washington, DC 20037   (1 August 2004)

Why does the Chinese government allow BAT to open factory in China after it signed up to the WHO convention on tobacco control? 1 August 2004
Tsung O Cheng, Professor of Medicine George Washington University, Washington, DC 20037 Send response to journal: Re: Why does the Chinese government allow BAT to open factory in China after it signed up to the WHO convention on tobacco control?	In the News in brief that British American Tobacco (BAT) has gained approval from the Chinese government to build a factory there after the Chinese government signed up to the World Health Organization (WHO)convention on tobacco control, you seemed to be surprised at this paradox. But I am not. Tobacco is the largest source of income for the Chinese government and millions of its citizens [1]. According to the Ministry of Public Health, China's state-run tobacco monopoly employs more than half a million workers in factories, 10 million in farming and 13 million in retail trade [1]. Tobacco taxes are the major source of revenue for the government and accounted for about 5 billion dollars in 1992, or about 10% of all revenue [1]. The tobacco industry is the biggest source of tax revenues in China; in 1996 the industry reported pre-tax profit of 83 billion Yuan, a 17% increase on the previous year [2]. Thus the government which needs money to raise living standards in China is as addicted to tobacco revenue as smokers are to nicotine. It is a dilemma China has to face: wealth first or health first. There is an apparent contradiction that exists in modern China: the state wants to have the revenue from tobacco, while the Ministry of Public Health wants to stop people from smoking in order to protect their health [1]. This paradox is reminiscent of the situation of soft drink vending machines in the schools in the United States. Although the Secretary of Health and Human Services discouraged the consumption of sugar-rich, calorie-rich and nutrition-poor soft drinks by schoolchildren, the vending machines for soft drinks still exist in the corridors of all the schools in the United States, because they are a critical source of income for cash strapped schools - sales from vending machines are eventually channelled through corporate donations to the schools to pay for books and equipment. References 1. Cheng TO: Teenage smoking in China. J Adolescence 1999;22:607-620. 2. Tomlinson R: China's smoking epidemic grows. BMJ 1997;315:502 Competing interests: None declared