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Expo turns down tobacco donation

By Qian Yanfeng and Shan Juan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-23 07:12

SHANGHAI: Organizers of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo said yesterday that they would not accept a 200 million yuan ($29 million) donation from a local tobacco company in order to observe the promise of a "healthy and smoke-free Expo."

Sources from the Shanghai World Expo Coordination Bureau said organizers have annulled the sponsorship contract with Shanghai Tobacco in deference to China's anti-smoking efforts and to maintain a healthy image at the world event.

The announcement has come in response to a week-long heated debate around China on the legitimacy of allowing tobacco promotion and sponsorship in a public event like the World Expo.

The debate was partly triggered by an earlier suggestion from a group of Chinese health experts that Expo organizers should reject the donation, which would have been a "public showcase of tobacco advertising" and a "violation of international treaties."

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Health experts cited Article 13 of the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), under which parties are obliged to undertake a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, at both domestic and international levels.

In 2003, China, the world's largest tobacco producer and consumer, signed the FCTC, and committed to banning all types of tobacco advertising and promotion by 2011.

Shanghai Tobacco, which produces China's major cigarette brands including Panda and Chung Hua, donated 200 million yuan on May 7 to help build the China Pavilion, which is expected to cost 1.5 billion yuan.

The donation had been the largest amount so far since the donation drive for the China Pavilion kicked off in December 2007.

A spokesman from Shanghai Tobacco reached by China Daily yesterday refused to comment on the rejection.

The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday praised the decision.

A woman wears a gas mask to protest second-hand smoke during a performance art show in front of a Shanghai subway station in this file photo. [China Daily/Wu Kai]

"WHO congratulates the Expo authorities on their decision to return the donation from Shanghai Tobacco," said WHO in a written statement to China Daily.

"This decision heralds a new healthier era in China as the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control comes into force and is fully implemented and respected. It is also wonderful news for the Shanghai Expo and is in keeping with its slogan, 'Better City, Better Life.'"

Some netizens, however, voiced differing opinions.

On Sina.com, one of the most popular news portals in China, a netizen from western Gansu province said that organizers might have used the donation for anti-smoking campaigns.

"They (tobacco companies) have made so much money. Why don't we use it for public good?" he said.

Others indicated the State-owned Shanghai Tobacco has long been a major contributor to the government, so it should come as no surprise that authorities first accepted the donation.

But Wu Yiqun, deputy director of the standing committee of ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development, an anti-tobacco organization, said she is glad to see rising awareness of tobacco control both within the government and among the public.

"The Chinese government has made great improvementfrom last year's cancellation of charity titles awarded to tobacco companies to the recent return of the donation to the Expo It shows the awareness is growing."

Six domestic tobacco companies were removed from the annual China Charity Awards list at the end of last year as a result of complaints from health departments and civil organizations. The six companies donated 963 million yuan in all.

But more needs to be done for China to strictly observe the FCTC and extend tobacco control to areas that used to be neglected, Wu said.

Some Hope Project schools in western China still sport names of the tobacco companies that donated money to them, which is obviously not good for the healthy development of children, she said.

Smoking ban in Shanghai

Following Beijing's move to ban smoking in public places before the Olympics last year, health authorities in Shanghai have been trying to extend smoking bans from public venues to all indoor workplaces as measures to clear the city's air of cigarette smoke ahead of the Expo.

A local anti-smoking law is currently under deliberation and likely to come into force by the end of this year, according to Ding Yuan, director of the tobacco control office under the municipal health bureau.

"All places with ceilings and at least three walls will be defined as indoor areas where smoking will be strictly prohibited," a spokesman from the office had said previously.

But Ding conceded that authorities would have a "very difficult" time actually prohibiting smoking in all indoor areas as defined, so the final version of the law might be more lenient.

"But our message is clear: We encourage people to take action against indoor smoking and to promote a healthy lifestyle in the city."

According to government statistics, China is home to some 350 million smokers, 1 million of whom die of smoking-related diseases each year.

About 54 million Chinese suffered from "passive smoking" and 100,000 Chinese die every year from exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke.

In Shanghai, one in four people is a smoker.