About 13 million Chinese women smoke

About 2.4 per cent of Chinese women – some 13 million – smoke, according to the All-China Women’s Federation, quoting ‘China‘s Report on the Harm of Smoking’.

The federation warned that the risk of contracting HPV (human papilloma virus) was 3.0 times higher among women who smoked 15 cigarettes a day than among non-smokers.

It said that the risk of women smokers contracting lung cancer was 4.7 times higher than risk run non-smokers, and the risk of smokers suffering breast cancer was 40.0 per cent higher.

Smoking could lead to infertility and the chances of a pregnant woman who smoked having a child with birth defects was about two to three times higher than that for non-smokers.

In none of these cases was the actual risk mentioned.

The federation said that smoking accelerated the aging process.