The Health Action Council was visited by six delegates from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs led by Mr. Daniel Fogarty of the Asia Foundation (U.S.). The delegates were in the middle of a tour of the U.S. during which they hoped to learn how grassroots groups and associations affect policy change. Earlier in the day, they had met with the NC Department of Agriculture and with tobacco growers' groups in Raleigh, NC. As a result, the delegation was quite interested in our relations with tobacco growers as well as our response to tobacco industry ad campaigns.

We explained that the tobacco control movement as a whole is not anti-tobacco farmer, but rather against messages that lead the public to believe that tobacco use is "cool," not unhealthy, and those that target youth. We laid out the general process by which mobilize individuals against tobacco use as follows: 1) Education of the public, 2) organization of interested parties, 3) good research to disprove tobacco industry assertions that cigarettes are not dangerous, 4) grassroots "lobbying" (letter writing campaigns, phoning of legislators, private, voluntary policy change), and 5) direct lobbying.

The delegation also expressed an interest in what plans various organizations have for international tobacco control partnerships. We discussed GlobaLink and the American Cancer Society's international roles and indicated that most associations are moving toward better international outreach.

Overall, the meeting was informative for all parties and gave both groups a better understanding of tobacco control in China and in the U.S.

Some telling comments:

"There are more smokers in China than there are people in the U.S."

One delegate commented that tobacco industry reps raised eyebrows when told there is no tobacco control infrastructure in China. The delegates expressed concern that their fellow countrymen would be targeted by the industry without concern for the wellbeing of china.