The smoking population, especially women and young people, is now on the rise. Experts estimate that by 2050, three million people in China will die from smoking-related diseases a year.

“China still has a long way to go in controlling tobacco consumption,” said Cao Ronggui, president of the Chinese Association of Smoking and Health.

She said Thursday, the World No-Tobacco Day, that the Chinese government has adopted measures to reduce the smoking population since 1979, including educating people on the harm caused by cigarettes, forbidding smoking in some public places and implementing certain regulations.

As it is known to all, tobacco has brought about bad health as well as economic burdens to smokers and second-hand smokers.

“Second-hand smoke kills. Let’s clear the air” was the theme of this year’s World No-Tobacco Day.

(Xinhua 05/31/2001)