China orders officials to smoke

[maxbailey]

A Chinese county has ordered officials to smoke nearly a quarter of a million packs of cigarettes every year in the hopes of raising tax revenues.

Gong'an county told civil servants and teachers to smoke 230,000 packs of the locally-made Hubei brand each year.

Those who do not smoke enough, or are caught puffing on brands from other provinces, or overseas, face being fined or even fired.

The decision has led provincial leaders to order a review of the policy.

A million people die from smoking-related diseases in China every year, but local officials were undeterred by the health risks.

"The regulation will boost the local economy via the cigarette tax," Chen Nianzu, a member of the cigarette market supervision team in Gong'an county, Hubei province, told the Global Times newspaper.

The paper said the measure could be an attempt to shore up the Hubei brands against tough competition from cigarettes produced in neighbouring Hunan province.

Smoking is deep-rooted in Chinese culture - where more than half of all male doctors smoke - and there is still a general lack of awareness about the impact on health.

But the authorities have recently started encouraging smokers to kick the habit - even imposing a ban on smoking in public buildings in the capital, Beijing, in the run up to the 2008 Olympic games.

[troup]

Its all business, they really don't give a fuck! Why worry about the health of your citizens when you have too many to handle in the first place.

[gallow737]

Population control

[troup]

They could have picked a better method for population control, the world is probably going to be hit by the plague, bombed to hell or invaded by aliens by the time all these smokers get cancer and die.

[TheSNakE]

I love it there. You can light up anywhere.

[nachos1345]

China is kind of a shithole.