Women now main target of tobacco firms
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In China, the number of women suffering from second-hand smoke is growing. China has 350 million smokers and 540 million people are suffering from secondhand smoke. About 70 percent of Chinese women are suffering from secondhand smoking, Wei said.
He Yao, director of the institute of geriatrics in the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital, said 82 percent of Chinese male smokers smoke at home, 35 percent smoke at work and 67 percent in public places.
"Smoking and smoking exposure will cause cancer, caducity, cardiovascular disease and rarefaction of bone to women," He said.
"Moreover, it could lead to infertility in women. If a pregnant woman smokes, her daughter would have a higher risk of infertility."
He also said that smoking during pregnancy would negatively affect the unborn child's intelligence, memory and nervous system.
Professor Zhi Xiuyi, an expert on lung cancer, said Chinese women who had lung cancer increased by 30 percent in the last five years. The number of people that died of lung cancer also rose by 50 percent in urban areas and 30 percent in rural areas in the same period, Zhi said.
Out of all the people killed by cancer, 87 percent had lung cancer, he said.
In 2003, China signed the UN Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which came into effect in 2005.
In line with the convention, China should ban tobacco advertising, promulgate laws to ban smoking in public places and raise consumption tax rate on tobacco by January 2011.
But Li Xinhua said China's tobacco volume has been growing sharply, counting for one-third of tobacco production worldwide and with domestic smokers consuming most of the cigarettes.
"Even if we take effective measures now, the market size will not shrink to less than 350 million in 30 years," Li said.
"So eliminating tobacco advertisements, raising tax rates and forbidding smoking in public places are all necessary."
