S.F. Youth Push for Tobacco Exclusion in China Trade Bill
Free flow of cigarettes may threaten health of women and teens, they say
By Janet Dang

Chinese American youth rallied against the current Permanent Normalized Trade Agreement China bill, declaring that open trade would allow tobacco companies free reign to market smoking to Chinese women and children.

Some 30 young people—most from the Chinese Progressive Association—demonstrated before the Federal Building, urging their representatives to oppose the bill, passed by the House on May 31, with a vote of 237-to-197, and now headed for the Senate, where it’s expected to pass.

While the president, Republican leaders, and business professionals have lauded the bill, saying that normalized trade would promote economic prosperity for both the United States and China, the youth say free trade of tobacco would harm the health of Chinese citizens. The young activists have drafted a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, urging them to support the exclusion of tobacco products and cigarettes from open-market trade agreements with China and other countries.

They cited statistics that show habitual smoking rose among women and children in other Asian countries after they opened their markets to transnational tobacco corporations. Currently in China, an estimated 67 percent of men, 5 percent of women and 10 percent of youth smoke.

“Many of my relatives and friends still in China are my age or younger,” Wilson Chan, a youth activist, said. “They’ve made it this far without smoking, and I’d hate to see fancy American advertising tempt them to start.”

Director Gordon Mar said the group’s campaign to eliminate tobacco marketing started five years ago as an effort by youth participants to make local changes. They have been successful in convincing city officials to prohibit tobacco ads from Chinatown and nearby school campuses in their neighborhoods.

“Tobacco products are not televisions—they must be regulated differently,” said Sarah He, community organizer. Chinese youth, she said, are already at risk for becoming smokers. Current statistics show that for all people under the age of 20 in China, “200 million will become smokers and at least 50 million of them will die prematurely because of tobacco use. If American tobacco corporations are allowed into China without restriction, Chinese smoking rates and death could increase by10 percent or more,” said He.