China is the largest tobacco producer and consumer of cigarettes in the world [1-5]. One of every three cigarettes manufactured in the world is consumed in China [1-5]. The Chinese continue to smoke all the time and everywhere (Fig. 1, A and B). Even more alarming is the prevalence of teenage smoking in China [6-8]; three of every 5 Chinese smokers begin smoking at the age of 15-20 years [6]. Foreign tobacco companies deliberately target youth in China [9], The Chinese government should stop the deceptive and misleading advertisement by the tobacco industry to counter tobacco control in China by marketing the so-called less harmful, low-tar1 cigarettes [10]. The recent introduction of electronic cigarettes - these battery-operated nicotine inhalers - in an attempt to discourage adolescents from smoking has proven to be a failure; the just completed National Youth Tobacco Survey showed that the use of e-cigarettes actually encourages conventional cigarette use among US adolescents [11].
展开▼
