North Carolina to China - Rice Paddies to Tobacco

I saw on line and in print, that Reynolds American – one of the top four tobacco companies in the world- was shuttering one of its oldest cigarette making factories. It meant something to me because the RJReynolds factory is/was (for as long as I can remember) operating in Winston Salem NC. My parents, a sister and I, moved to Winston Salem in 1973 and for years when our family would visit, we would tour this cigarette factory. Reynolds American has been most famous for the Camel, Winston, Pall Mall and Salem brands of cigarettes. I smoked Salems just briefly because my sister smoked them – but for most of my smoking “career” I smoked Winstons in the red and white box. Cowboy killers we called them and indeed the man who was the face of Winston in magazine ads is said to have died of lung cancer. Not too long ago I wrote about Susan Ivey the CEO of Reynolds American, which owns and controls RJR. She has the company focused on smokeless tobacco products as RA recently purchased the company that makes Grizzly and Kodiak moist snuff. They are also marketing nontraditional products such as tobacco containing snus, orbs, sticks and strips. The move by the company is in direct response to the significant decline in cigarette consumption in the USA and some other countries.

Ironic then, that as I was reading about this, on my TV the PBS show News Hour was airing a piece on China which has the highest rate of cigarette use in the world – 60% of the men in China smoke. Even though the other big American tobacco company Philip Morris spun itself into Philip Morris International to get a piece of the less regulated tobacco industry pie, they aren’t getting the benefit here. This is China and the government pays it’s people subsidies to grow tobacco and it makes the profit on the sales. The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, a research and advocacy group, has a page on China that you can view here.

According to the News Hour show, which did have a spokeswoman on camera from TFK, 1 million Chinese die each year from a smoking related disease. It is projected that 2 million will die in 2020. The deaths usually associated with tobacco are from heart disease, COPD and cancers. The lung illnesses and cancers develop quietly over the years and treatment options are very limited. Heart disease and stroke will happen more quickly. China is introducing some of the same antitobacco policies that have been a thorn in the side of RA and PM however, it is government vs. government there and right now – the tobacco is generating a great income – 20 years from now it will generate great expense.