Tobacco Kills 1 Million Chinese Yearly; 540 Million Suffer From Secondhand Smoke

December 16, 2007 12:50 p.m. EST

Beijing, China (AHN) - Top officials of China have vowed to implement stiffer measures related to smoking following reports that 540 million Chinese suffer from secondhand smoke and about a million people across the region die annually due to tobacco related diseases.

In a top level conference focusing on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) held Saturday in Beijing, the delegates signed a proposal calling for a no-smoking environment and an implementation of a law banning smoking in public places.

According to a report by Xinhua News, the alarming figures representing the total number of Chinese who suffer from secondhand smoke even include 180 million youths below 15 years old.

Also called environmental tobacco smoke, secondhand smoke refers to the combination of side stream smoke (smoke given off by the burning end of tobacco products such as pipes and cigars) and mainstream smoke (the smoke exhaled by the smoker).

Health experts warn that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer to non-smokers, heart disease in adults and asthma attacks in children.