Smoking ‘scourge’in China, research shows

SMOKING is a “scourge” on China’s health system, and 100 million men in the country may die of smoking-related diseases such as cancer from 2000 to 2050, researchers said in the British medical journal, the Lancet.

An ageing population, tobacco use and an increasing rate of fat and salt intake are leading to more heart disease, stroke and cancer in China, the researchers said.

The proportion of deaths from those diseases rose to 74% in 2005 from 47% in 1973.