by
Robert Garment, Executive Editor | August 29, 2005
The world's biggest tobacco consumer, China, has ratified an international treaty aimed at curbing tobacco-related deaths, state media has reported.
The country's top legislature announced shortly afterwards it was banning all tobacco vending machines, even in self-administered Hong Kong and Macau.
China has around 350 million smokers, some 36% of the population, says the World Health Organization.
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There are 1.2 million tobacco-related deaths annually, says a China watchdog.
That means China has one-fourth of the world's total number of deaths from diseases related to tobacco, says the Chinese Association on Smoking Control.
China sold 1,798bn cigarettes in 2003, making it the world's largest consumer of cigarettes, the state Xinhua news agency said.
