China is stepping up efforts to produce low-tar cigarettes for the sake of consumers' health, as the country's tobacco industry watchdog has ordered that cigarettes manufactured after July 1, 2004 and containing over 15 milligrams of tar each should not go on the domestic market.

"Those cigarettes that fail to meet the standards will be sealed up and destroyed," said the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, adding that the move was adopted to better satisfy the needs of the market and consumers, to further lower the tar content in cigarettes, and to further reduce the harm brought by cigarettes.

However, the administration noted, tobacco producers can still sell their cigarettes with over 15 mg tar content if the cigarettes were manufactured before July 1.

To ensure that cigarettes on the market meet the standards, the administration requires all local tobacco quality supervising authorities to enhance check over the quality of cigarettes manufactured after July 1.

One cigarette contains 2,000 different chemicals, of the type that can be found in exhaust pipes, including tar, which causes addiction, and nicotine, which in turn can cause darkening of the lips, according to health experts.

As the world's biggest tobacco producer and consumer, China has approximately 300 million tobacco smokers, statistics show.

Every year, nearly one million Chinese die of diseases related to tobacco smoking, exceeding the total death tolls of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, confinement diseases, traffic accidents and suicide.

In November last year, China signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first public health treaty ever negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO), and in which China promised to lower the tar content in cigarettes to 12 mg per stick.

Actually, the tobacco administration first set forth the requirement of limiting tar content in cigarettes four years ago.

In 2003, the tar content in a single cigarette was reduced to 14.3 mg on average, while in 1983, the content was 27 mg, statistics show.

(Xinhua News  Agency  June 30, 2004)