GOOD AFTERNOON!
I am very pleased to be invited to this memorable event. Every year, national statistics confirm that chronic non-communicable diseases are China’s number one health threat. They account for over 80 percent of its annual deaths and contribute to almost 70 percent of the total disease burden. China has one of the highest smoking rates among adult males in the world, at 52.9%. We all know the harm that comes from long term tobacco use, including cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Second hand smoke is dangerous as well; only a few weeks ago a study came out of China that had followed over 900 non-smokers and showed an increased rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and stroke. What further evidence do we need? The message is clear: smoking is a chronic, addictive, deadly behaviour; the best way to reduce tobacco use is in youth- by not allowing them to start smoking. We know that raising taxes is the single most effective means through MPOWER, the World Health Organization's global plan to reduce tobacco use, yet it is not simply one strategy, but several, that will lead to a reduction in its use.
Researchers in mass media effects have demonstrated a prospective relationship between exposure to smoking imagery in entertainment media and smoking onset among youth even after accounting for demographic, personality, parental, and peer influences. Youth spend a large proportion of their time consuming media and an extensive body of literature demonstrates the association of exposure to entertainment media with a variety of attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Given that, it is perhaps unsurprising that exposure to smoking in movies has been associated with smoking-related attitudes and behavior, in both survey and experimental data. A survey just published in 2012 of 6500 adolescents aged 10-14 showed that exposure to smoking in movies was associated with an decreased rate of smoking initiation
The National Cancer Institute has concluded that studies indicate a causal relationship between exposure to depictions of smoking in movies and youth smoking initiation. Adolescents in the top quartile of exposures to onscreen tobacco incidents have been found to be approximately twice as likely to begin smoking as those in the bottom quartile.
In order to take action, let us examine the policies of other countries. The United States Department of Health and Human Services strategic plan to reduce tobacco use includes reducing youth exposure to onscreen smoking. To monitor tobacco use in movies, occurrences of tobacco incidents in U.S. top-grossing movies each year are counted. Some media companies have policies designed to reduce tobacco and subsequently, show less tobacco use in their films. This finding indicates that an enforceable policy aimed at reducing tobacco use in youth-rated movies can lead to substantially fewer tobacco incidents in movies and help prevent adolescent initiation of smoking.
The World Health Organization theme for World No Tobacco Day this year was Tobacco Company Interference. Tactics such as using political funding, lobbying, creating alliances, and funding research have been used by tobacco companies in the past. In many countries tobacco companies use a wide range of tactics– legal and illegal – to introduce, promote and sell their deadly products. For instance, they try to falsely legitimize themselves as responsible corporate citizens, often through sponsorship. In China this is demonstrated by the sponsorship of schools by the tobacco companies
Documenting tobacco use in movies and tv is one step toward the reduction of tobacco use overall and WHO applauds your effort. We look forward to continue our collaboration with the China Association on Tobacco Control in order to protect the Chinese people from the hazards of tobacco use.