<strong>China: Smoking Now A Class Subject</strong>

Source from:  Global Times (cn)  06/17/2013

A recent survey of more than 26,723 teenagers from 68 junior and senior high schools across Shanghai revealed that 3.9 percent admitted to being smokers. This appears optimistic compared to the national teenage smoking rate of 11.5 percent recorded by the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control in January 2013. And the figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that in 2011, 18 percent of high school students in that country smoked.

However, the two-year Shanghai survey by the Public Health School of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University nevertheless suggested that teenage smoking in the city is on the increase - five years ago 2.3 percent of Shanghai's teenagers were regular smokers.

The figures have provoked calls for another series of anti-smoking campaigns aimed at young people accentuating the fact that teenagers who take up smoking are at a serious risk of developing a chronic disease.

According to the Ministry of Health's first report on smoking and health in China in 2006, around 1 million people die annually from diseases caused by smoking, meaning one tobacco-related death occurs every 30 seconds. The annual death toll will increase to 2 million in 2025, and 3 million in 2050, the report speculated.

In 2008, the country was producing 2.2 trillion cigarettes a year and production has been increasing since then.

Unique position

The science journal Addictive Behaviors has pointed out that schools are in a unique position to play a major role in reducing teenage smoking, as teenagers spend about one third of their waking time in school and this is where they will encounter the most peer pressure about smoking. Experts say schools should create an environment that encourages an anti-smoking philosophy.

In Shanghai in 2005, 728 of the city's 1,776 primary and middle schools were rated "tobacco-free schools." Schools can enjoy this title after they adhere to 90 percent of the on-campus tobacco-free code proposed by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission in 2002.

The code completely bans smoking on campus - within school buildings or on playgrounds, by students, teachers or employees. But anecdotal evidence suggests that the tobacco-free schools are not exactly the case. 

"It is no secret that some students go to the toilets for a cigarette during recess," one girl student Yang Yan from a private middle school in Xuhui district said. "I've bumped into classmates smoking in the unused corridors too."

She said that while some had been caught smoking by teachers, very few have given up the habit - they just became more careful and discreet about where and when they smoked.

Some of the teachers are smokers. Unlike the students, they are more likely to get into trouble if they are caught smoking in school. One teacher surnamed Dong from a junior high school in Huangpu district said that today's students were "hard to cross" and didn't hesitate to tell their parents if they saw a teacher smoking.

"The parents then come straight to the schools to have 'a talk' - they are very concerned about the way the school is being run so none of the teachers here dares have a puff at school."

However, at Dong's school, anti-smoking information can only be found in the school's hygiene-and-health bulletins, which is at odds with the tobacco-free code. The code says anti-smoking signs and slogans should be displayed prominently in libraries, laboratories, staff rooms, canteens and stairways.

Repeated appeals

But Dong's school does include anti-smoking lessons in its science courses. "This is not just restricted to one grade - students are exposed to repeated appeals to go tobacco free."

In other middle schools in Shanghai, different programs have been introduced. At No.1 Qingpu Middle School and No.4 Pengpu Middle School, for instance, the tobacco-free campaign has been included in various lessons. Chemistry teachers explain the poisonous chemical components of tobacco and Chinese teachers get students to write essays on the dangers of tobacco. In art classes, students create tobacco-free-themed manga cartoons and these are put on display in the school.

But far away in Jakarta, Indonesia, schools have a different approach with their physical exercise classes including anti-smoking messages. Education activist Retno Listyarti said it was easier for physical education teachers to include the campaign in healthy lifestyle lessons, the Jakarta Post reported.

The rebel backlash

While some Shanghai schools are making efforts, others are, however, simply ignoring the campaign. And the reason, according to some, is that it is common for teenagers to rebel against the authorities and teachings and they could take up smoking as an act of rebellion.

Some insiders suggest that a better approach for schools would be to adopt the "Truth" campaign from Florida, the US. "Truth" is a media campaign, not a school-based program. It works on influencing teenagers by playing to their rebellious natures.

Matthew Myers, the president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a privately-funded organization established to reduce tobacco use in the US, said the campaign was effective as it did not accentuate forbidding smoking, which many teenagers might then see as attractive.

Instead, it took advantage of teenagers' desires to take control of their own lives by screening commercials that revealed how the tobacco industry manipulated and deceived.

Student Yang agrees that this approach might help. "I am sure this would be a lot better than just saying 'this is dangerous, don't do it,' as my peers might find that quite cool, while it is definitely very uncool to be manipulated by tobacco companies. If schools shift the angle and provide facts on the industry's marketing techniques, we would be more likely to break free from the tobacco myth."

The Shanghai Municipal Health Promotion Committee has recently come up with a series of posters showing tobacco packaging warning signs from around the world. According to the committee's deputy head Tang Qiong, these have been distributed to the city's schools to be displayed in health and hygiene classes and weekly class meetings.

Some of the warnings feature graphic pictures of victims - smokers who have suffered amputation, blindness, and lung cancer as well as close-ups of rotten teeth and toes.

They are giving many of the students goose bumps, Tang said. "Although we are not showing corpses just to make it dramatic and gruesome, this is truly not a soft approach - the warnings are having a real impact."

Museum muddle

But there are forces and traditions working against the best efforts of education and health authorities. One of the country's major tourist venues, which students are encouraged to visit, is decidedly pro-smoking.

The China Tobacco Museum, on the corner of Changyang Road and Tongbei Road in Yangpu district is funded by the country's tobacco companies and officially licensed as a national-level museum. Since its opening in 2004, this five-story museum has received over 300,000 visitors. In 2012, the museum was named a "Patriotism Education Base" and a "Model Unit of Juvenile Education" - institutes given these awards are often the first choices when it comes to school trips.

Apart from providing information on the history of tobacco, the museum uses famous figures to endorse smoking. In the Tobacco Culture section, the museum displays pictures of one of China's most respected modern writers, Lu Xun, smoking.

The caption notes that this is "Lu Xun, the fighter, in the company of tobacco." What it doesn't mention is that Lu Xun died of lung disease at the age of 55.

The museum also displays outdated research data promoting smoking including a 1948 US medical report that said psychologically, the consumption of tobacco could help relieve stress. For visitors, it offers illustrated graphs and figures showing that the tobacco industry is the country's largest taxpayer.

Chen Shaofeng, the deputy dean of the Peking University's Institute of Culture Industries, recently told the Beijing Morning Post that the museum was nothing more than a venue displaying advertisements for the tobacco industry and lacked any patriotic or educational worth.

Zheng Pinpin from the School of Public Health, Fudan University conducted a survey on young adults with university-level education or higher, and found a dramatic decrease in the number of participants who regarded smoking as "very harmful" after visiting the museum.

As well the participants reported feeling that tobacco was a "culture" and saw the tobacco industry as a major contributor to the country's economy and charities. Less mature and less-educated middle school students, Zheng said, were even more susceptible to the spin the tobacco museum created.

Ahead of the World No Tobacco Day this year, the museum was stripped off the two awards - but Tang Qiong with the Shanghai Municipal Health Promotion Committee said that while the awards were no longer on display at the entrance of the museum, this didn't mean the museum would stop claiming it was a "Patriotism Education Base" or a "Model Unit of Juvenile Education."

A 17-year-old student surnamed Jing from one of the city's leading high schools in the Pudong New Area also felt it was too early to cheer the disappearance of the awards. "I think what really matters are the exhibits and the presentation - the museum should balance itself with some proper information on the short-term and long-term negative effects of tobacco."

Media might

Although the law actually bans advertising smoking on radio, in movies, television, newspapers and periodicals, there are tobacco commercials still being screened and experts have expressed concerns about this.

A local radio station report said that a recent survey showed that 15 out of the 32 monitored television channels screened tobacco commercials.

On China Central Television's science and education channel, a commercial for a leading Chinese tobacco company was screened 97 times in a week - much more frequently than anti-smoking commercials appeared.

And tobacco companies have found their ways into so-called public service advertisements. One social media user, who calls himself "maippp," reported seeing a mobile television commercial promoting patriotism on a bus. The commercial appeared to have been sponsored by a city tobacco company.

In May, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and the Shanghai Municipal Health Promotion Committee asked local media to say no to tobacco advertising and sponsorship.

Tang told the Global Times that about 20 of the 40 media outlets approached had made a commitment by May 31.

The Xinmin Evening News, eastday.com, and Popular Medicine, among others, have promised not to publish any form of tobacco advertising, to ban tobacco companies from launching sales or marketing arrangements from their institutions, and not accept funding or sponsorship from the tobacco industry. Enditem