Ban on tobacco sales to minors poorly respected in China

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and premature death, with more than 8 million attributable deaths worldwide each year, including more than 1 million in China. In 2016, China's State Council released the outline of the "Healthy China 2030" plan, which emphasized that the smoking rate among people aged 15 and over should be reduced to 20% by 2030. Reducing youth smoking could help achieve this goal. A study[1] sought to assess compliance with the law prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors under 18 in China.

China has the largest smoking population in the world, with an estimated 316 million smokers aged 15 and over. According to a recent study, the estimated prevalence of current smoking was 25.1%, with the majority of smoking occurring among men: 47.6% compared to 1.9% among women.

This study measured the effectiveness of the ban on the sale of tobacco products to minors in the country. A total of 288,192 middle and high school students were surveyed in the 2019 China survey. The overall response rate was 94.8%. Among the participants in the study, 15,257 (5.9%) were smokers.

Ban on sales to minors poorly respected in China

In recent years, the Chinese government has taken various measures, such as introducing anti-smoking into the health education curriculum, banning smoking in schools, promoting smoke-free homes, and awareness campaigns. The smoking rate of high school students has decreased from 5.9% in 2014 to 3.9% in 2019.

Despite these efforts, the accessibility of tobacco products remains very high due to non-compliance with the protective ban on sales to minors. In 2019, 83.3 % were not refused a sale because they were under 18 at the time of purchase, with no statistically significant difference between boys (83 %) and girls (85.2 %), or between urban (84.1 %) and rural (82.9 %) areas. The proportion of current smokers who were not refused a sale was higher for high school students (87.6 %) than for middle school students (76.5 %).

These findings coincide with those of another study which found that only 18.9% of Hong Kong tobacco retailers complied with the law prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to young people under the age of 18.

Enforce this ban and increase tobacco prices

For the authors, these results concerning the low effectiveness of the ban on sales to minors contribute to explaining the high prevalence of smoking among young people in China. Limiting young people's access to tobacco products can indeed prevent smoking initiation and reduce the number of lifelong smokers, which is one of the most effective strategies to curb the tobacco epidemic among adults. In accordance with Article 16 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), it has been prohibited to sell tobacco to minors under the age of 18 since 2007 according to the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors. However, due to the lack of specific penalties clearly indicated in this initial version of the law, it has been difficult to enforce it until now. The Law on the Protection of Minors was revised in June 2021, which added specific penalty articles for the illegal sale of cigarettes to minors; this legislative development has not yet been evaluated.

The authors also add that, in addition to the non-compliance with the ban on sales to minors, the affordable price of cigarettes in China contributes to encouraging smoking among young Chinese people. Numerous studies[2]-[3] showed that increasing the price through tobacco tax increases in line with Article 6 of the Framework Convention is a cost-effective way to reduce smokers' consumption, encourage smokers to quit, and prevent entry into smoking, particularly among young people and those of low socioeconomic status. In this study, the authors estimate that 77.3% of young Chinese smokers purchased a pack of cigarettes (20 cigarettes) for about 10 yuan (1.40 euros) in the past 30 days, which is much higher than the proportion among adults (nearly 50% of adults). For the authors, this means that the current price of cigarettes in China is not a barrier for most young people and that cigarette prices need to be increased substantially to reduce youth smoking.

Keywords: China, ban on sales to minors, smoking, taxation, taxes, young people

©Tobacco Free Generation

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[1] Di+, Xinbo et al. “Cigarette availability and affordability among Chinese youth smokers: Findings from the 2019 China Youth Tobacco Survey.” Tobacco Induced Diseases, vol. 20, no. October, 2022, 89. doi:10.18332/tid/152511 [2] Chaloupka FJ, Straif K, Leon ME; Working Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer. Effectiveness of tax and price policies in tobacco control. Tob Control. 2011;20(3):235-238. doi:10.1136/tc.2010.039982 [3] Kostova D, Ross H, Blecher E, Markowitz S. Is youth smoking responsive to cigarette prices? Evidence from low- and middle-income countries. Tob Control. 2011;20(6):419-424. doi:10.1136/tc.2010.03878 National Committee Against Smoking |