International tobacco firms, spurned in the West, have made developing countries their target. Among the countries they are greedily eying is China. China's population doesn't have any cultural taboos against men smoking, and the addiction is widespread. Cigarette companies are also increasingly pushing their products on women.
One of our chinese former flatmates, Ken, was a smoker. His girlfriend Taylor (who lived with us for 2 years) was constantly at him to quit. He kept promising he would, then finding himself unable to keep the promise. While he was living with us, his uncle (also a smoker) died of lung cancer, a few months after being diagnosed. He was in his 40s. Still, Ken found himself unable to quit. When he went back to China it was even harder. Their primitive laws allow smoking in workplaces, so with all his workmates smoking it became even more difficult. I haven't talked to Ken or Taylor in a while (they married at the beginning of this year) but I presume Ken still smokes. And I presume Taylor would still like him to quit.
Hopefully Ken won't be one of the estimated one in three young chinese men who, it is estimated, will die of smoking-related disease. However, the way things are going in China, Western and Chinese governments and the tobacco companies that wield influence within them will do their best to ensure that he and millions of other chinese citizens do so. Our governments are finally getting their act together not because of concern for the wellbeing of the public but out of fear of the massive cost of smoking related diseases. They are all too happy to foist the problem onto foreign countries and allow cigarette companies to reap profit at the cost of human life.
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