A man enjoys a cigarette break on a street in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, January 23, 2011. Photo: CFP
Xie Jianping
China's anti-smoking lobby is fuming over the recent appointment to the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) of a scientist who works for the tobacco industry.
They say the appointment of Xie Jianping, 52, to the CAE is another example of how well connected and influential the government-owned cigarette industry is in China.
Xie is the deputy director of Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Center, which is funded by the State-owned China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC).
The anti-smoking lobby contends that Xie's research is aimed at promoting the cigarette habit, not protecting the health of citizens.
The CAE is a national and independent organization composed of elected members who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of engineering and science.
Xie's research focused on adding traditional Chinese herbal medicines to cigarettes in an attempt to reduce the harmful effects of smoking, according to recent media reports.
"We've submitted a letter to the Academy asking it to reevaluate the pseudo-science of lowering tar in cigarettes, which Xie has been working on, and revoke Xie's appointment," said Xu Guihua, deputy director of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, an NGO that is pushing for greater controls on tobacco, effective bans on smoking in public places and a stronger effort to get people to quit smoking.
Xu says her group also wants CNTC to stop research into low-tar cigarettes and provide funding for truly independent research into the health effects of tobacco and how to overcome nicotine addiction.
Billions in tax revenue
In 2010, CNTC paid 498.85 billion yuan (around $75 billion) in taxes to the government, according to the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, making it one of the largest sources of revenue for State and local governments.
More than 300 million Chinese adults smoke. More than half of all Chinese men smoke, making them by far the vast majority of smokers. In 2009, CNTC says, Chinese cigarette makers produced a whopping 2.3 trillion cigarettes, making China the world's largest maker of cigarettes, according to media reports.
World Health Organization statistics show that nearly 1.2 million people in China die from smoking-related diseases each year, about 20 percent of the world's total. The WHO estimates 740 million people in China are exposed to second-hand smoke.
Independent tests conducted in the 1990s and earlier by Western researchers showed low-tar or light cigarettes are not safer to smoke.
"It is impossible to reduce harm by adding Chinese herbs, which may also cause greater side effects," said Fang Zhouzi, a well-known scholar, writer and critic. He gained fame for bashing pseudo-science and has written withering critiques of traditional Chinese medicine.
Fang says Xie's research is unforgivable as its sole purpose is to promote cigarette smoking.
Xie's predecessor, Zhu Zunquan, 92, has been the tobacco industry's representative to the Chinese Academy of Engineering since 1997.
Zhu's claim to fame also stemmed from developing tobacco alternatives and low-tar cigarettes, which helped the industry prosper.
"China didn't take tobacco control seriously in the 1990s when Zhu was elected to the Academy of Engineering," said Fang, suggesting the CAE should never have appointed a replacement from the tobacco industry.