Chinese FORCED to smoke....

[phatmax]

To help pay tobacco taxes of course....

I wonder at what point we will see this here????

Chinese ordered to smoke more to boost economy
Local government officials in China have been ordered to smoke nearly a quarter of a million packs of cigarettes in a move to boost the local economy during the global financial crisis.

By Peter Foster in Beijing
Last Updated: 7:45AM BST 04 May 2009

The edict, issued by officials in Hubei province in central China, threatens to fine officials who "fail to meet their targets" or are caught smoking rival brands manufactured in neighbouring provinces.

Even local schools have been issued with a smoking quota for teachers, while one village was ordered to purchase 400 cartons of cigarettes a year for its officials, according to the local government's website.

The move, which flies in the face of national anti-smoking policies set in Beijing, is aimed at boosting tax revenues and protecting local manufacturers from outside competition from China's 100 cigarette makers.

In total, officials have been ordered to puff their way through 230,000 packs of Hubei-branded cigarettes worth £400,000.

China's government has ordered massive government spending at both national and provincial levels to prop up the economy following plummeting demand for Chinese exports abroad, however imposing a cigarette quota is unusual.

"The regulation will boost the local economy via the cigarette tax," said Chen Nianzu, a member of the Gong'an cigarette market supervision team.

China has 350 million smokers, about a million of whom die each year from smoking-related illnesses. Despite anti-smoking campaigns, cigarette taxes form a major component of China's annual tax-take at local level.

Local authorities in Gong'an county are taking the cigarette quota seriously and have established a "special taskforce" to enforce it.

According to a local newspaper account, a teacher from a village middle school said officials burst unannounced into the school at around 3pm one afternoon and started sifting through the ashtray and bins in the staff-room.

Three "non-compliant" cigarette butts were discovered by the "cigarette marketing consolidate team" which informed the teacher he had violated the related civil servants "cigarette usage rule" After some negotiation the school was spared a fine, but subjected to "public criticism" for "undisciplined practices".

[Cypress]

Strange tactic. Maybe they should talk to the Americans?

[phatmax]

Well, let's see...

Similarities:

Both countries have massive anti-smoking campaigns.

Both countries rely heavily on tobacco taxes.

Both countries have drastically increased taxes to pay for more programs.

Both countries have reduced the number of smokers due to price.

One country is now forcing people to smoke....

Do you really think we are that far behind?


(oh and I saw your bike wreck thread, glad you are safe. Please watch out, a bunch of people around me have either bought it or had wrecks. Freaking Spring Bike Flu)

[phatmax]

WOW!!! They withdrew the plan!

Forced to Smoke - The Stupid Idea that got Withdrawn

Posted by Nathan Adam, Editor in Chief on May 5th, 2009 This post has 56 views. Posted by Nathan Adam, Editor in Chief on May 5th, 2009 and filed under Featured, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

A Chinese County has withdrawn a rule that would force government officials and civil servants to smoke over 230,000 packs of cigarettes a year in order to “boost tax income”.
The authorities in the Gong’an county had been starting to ask officials, civil servants and teachers to smoke locally-produced brand of Hubei. If the officials were not smoking enough of the brand or were smoking brands from other provinces and from overseas they could have been fined or even fired over what could have been their new stance on smoking.
The authority has since went back on this idea after heavy criticism from a local newspaper.
In China, over 1 million people die from smoking-related circumstances each year but this authority obviously ignored the health risks. This is seen quite extensively in China after research says that over half of male doctors in China smoke and the country AND the doctor’s still have a general lack of awareness as to what smoking does to the human body.
Progress is encouraging however as for the Olympic games in 2008 the Chinese authorities banned smoking in all public buildings in Beijing, this may have been for the reduction of pollution but it still shows significant progress in what might be a rise in awareness over smoking issues.

[Koolpsych]

Haha wow. If only it were like this in America... maybe...