As a family, US Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman and me Mary Kaye Huntsman his wife are unfortunately acquainted with the losses that tobacco use can bring.

When my sister, Susan started smoking she was 24 and she didn’t know that the risk of lung cancer at smoking women is higher than that of a man even if smoking the same number of cigarettes per day.

After 10 years she was diagnosed with an acute lung cancer and succumbed to cancer during three weeks. Susan’s early death was preventable and she could live a long and happy life if she had not been addicted to cigarettes.

Chinese women and their families are prepared to get benefit from China’s increase in the global economy. In present more and more Chinese women receive a good education, hold senior positions and contribute to better quality of life both for themselves and their families.

But at the same time, Chinese women are exposed to new and harmful risks. Today China has more than 300 million smokers it is nearly a quarter of the population.

In China more than 66 % of men and less than 10 % of women smoke. But tobacco companies consider that they can’t develop on the tobacco market if the number of smoking women is so low.

That is why these tobacco companies continue to spend millions of yuan on cigarette advertising trying to convince women and young girls that smoking gives the feeling of freedom and keeps them slim.

We understand clearly that cigarettes don’t do such things, as they can only make women sick. Women who smoke are at a higher risk of developing fatal illnesses as for example bronchitis and emphysema.

Smoking also raises the cases of heart diseases, leukemia and various cancers of the mouth, larynx, lungs, esophagus, pancreas and breast.

It is also known that women who smoke are more likely to suffer from infertility and those women who are pregnant have the higher risks of preterm delivery, stillbirth, and other consequences.

Even if a woman is not smoking she may be exposed to dangerous secondhand smoke that can also worsen her health. Of more than 600,000 deaths caused by secondhand smoke every year, about 64 % occur in women.

About half of Chinese women of reproductive age are constantly exposed to secondhand smoke.

At the beginning of this year the China Tobacco Control Office created a quit line for smokers. During two weeks of its existence, over 300 people had called to receive help.

“Protecting and promoting the health of women is very important not only for the present citizens but also for the future generations”, said the WHO Director-General Margaret Chan.

My hope is that my family’s experience will make other smokers in China think before lighting up a cigarette.