China ratifies WHO anti-tobacco treaty
(AFP )
Updated: 2005-08-29 07:04

BEIJING - China, the world's biggest market for cigarettes, ratified an international treaty aimed curbing tobacco-related deaths, announcing immediately afterwards a ban on tobacco vending machines, AFP reported.

Smokers enjoy their cigarettes in Beijing. China, the world's biggest market for cigarettes, ratified an international treaty aimed curbing tobacco-related deaths, announcing immediately afterwards a ban on tobacco vending machines.[AFP]

The country's legislature ratified the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which the government signed in 2003, the state Xinhua news agency reported late Sunday.

It announced afterwards it would ban tobacco vending machines of any kind, including its self-administered territories of Hong Kong and Macau, Xinhua said.

The WHO treaty requires countries to also prohibit the sale of tobacco to minors and ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Treaty parties must pass the measures into national law within three to five years.

The WHO estimates there are 350 million smokers in China, or some 36 percent of its population.

An official survey found about five million minors smoked, Xinhua said.

According to Chinese Association on Smoking Control, about 1.2 million people die of tobacco-related diseases each year in China, one-fourth of the total figure of the world, it said.

China sold 1,797.95 billion cigarettes in 2003, making it the world's largest cigarette market, Xinhua said.

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