The World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday called on the Chinese government to further raise taxes on tobacco products and increase retail prices by seven to 10 percent, but Chinese experts think measures should be implemented gradually.
Higher tobacco taxes could lessen demand, save lives and raise funds to strengthen health services, according to a Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2015 by the WHO published Tuesday in Manila.
Yang Gonghuan, an expert at the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, told the Global Times that China should increase tobacco taxes but gradually to minimize conflicts between governments, tobacco producers and consumers.
Yang said the Ministry of Finance's decision to increase tobacco taxes by 11% in May, the first increase in six years, was a good starting point to lower tobacco use. There are over 300 million smokers in China and it is the world's largest tobacco producer, the WHO said.
"When tobacco prices rise, consumption falls along with smoking-related deaths and disease," said Dr Bernhard Schwartländer, WHO Representative in China.
But Zhang Jianshu, head of the Beijing Association on Tobacco Control, said the number of smokers has largely remained the same because the tax increase has a limited effect considering the number of cheaper cigarettes available in the market.
Beijing imposed its strictest smoking ban on June 1.
