Big Tobacco Funding Primary Schools

In today’s age, knowing what we know about the risks of smoking, how is it possible that tobacco companies have access to schools? As important as it is to take into account cultural differences, China has no excuse in allowing tobacco companies to make their pitch to impressionable young children. The cost of a quality education is not worth it if it comes with lung cancer, heart disease and emphysema.

MORE than 100 primary schools in China are sponsored by tobacco companies in a move described by anti-smoking campaigners as hunting for the next generation of smokers.

The schools often have the names of Chinese cigarette brands, such as Zhongnanhai or Liqun, over their gates and in some cases have promotional slogans in the playground.

”Talent comes from hard work – Tobacco helps you become talented,” says one slogan, in foot-high gilt letters, on the front of the Sichuan Tobacco Hope Primary School.

Tobacco helps you become talented? No China, tobacco helps you die well and truly before your time!

Unfortunately, the message is successfully getting through to China’s underage demographic:

There are 16 million smokers under the age of 15 in China, 6.3 per cent of the youth population, according to the Chinese government.

For a country that is reknown for its strict regulations, it is mistifying that there is no regulations prohibiting tobacco from parading their brands in schools.

Tags: Children, China, Education, kids, life, Marketing, News, Opinion, Parenting, Politics, Schools, Smoking, Tobacco, Underage

This entry was posted on September 23, 2011 at 5:22 pm and is filed under Child Welfare. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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