Bin Bing (www.newshainan.com): Although 85 percent of interviewees support the use of graphic health warnings related to smoking, I personally doubt that such a plan would ever be implemented. Furthermore, public support is being derailed by the lack of official backing.

In China, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control took effect in January 2006, demanding obvious warning signs on tobacco packaging. However, the country's 2013-15 national tobacco control plan does not include such an initiative.

It's common sense that smoking is harmful to health. However, due to the lack of effective warnings, smokers care little about the impact of their actions.

In Canada, statistics show that nine months after warning signs were introduced in tobacco packaging, 58 percent of smokers came to realize that smoking is harmful, 44 percent considered quitting and 38 percent decided to stop.

Tobacco control requires serious effort, still I doubt if the right sincerity exists to tackle the problems.

Liu Gensheng (Shenzhen Special Zone Daily): The high support rate in the survey shows that horrible warning images are welcome amongst the Chinese public.

In 2009, Huang Xihua, a deputy to the National People's Congress, suggested it was time to stop beautifying tobacco use and raise awareness on the consequences of smoking. Following investigations, she found that smokers paid little attention to the harmful impact of tobacco due to "pretty" packaging, many even considering cigarettes the perfect gift.

In response to the calls for health warnings on cigarette packaging, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration states that the reason for the lack of warning images on the packaging of tobacco products is that it is a consideration "based on China's national condition."

When it comes to China's "national condition," they seem to have forgotten the country has more than 300 million smokers, with more than 740 million people exposed to second-hand smoke. Public health is under serious threat. Every year, more than 1 million people die of smoking-related diseases.

Health should always come first. Although the tobacco industry has contributed huge tax revenues, this can never offset the loss it causes to people's health. We need effective laws to promote warnings in tobacco packaging. The tobacco industry should be made to feel ashamed for maximizing profits at the cost of public health.

Li Fangxiang (www.dahe.cn): Over the past 50 years, research has revealed active and passive smoking to be among the major triggers for lung cancer, chronic diseases of the respiratory system, coronary heart disease, strokes and death. However, awareness on the effect of tobacco use remains limited. In some cases, offering cigarettes to guests is even regarded as an expression of hospitality in China. To some extent, shiny packages are playing a big role. Although warnings such as "smoking is harmful to your health" are included on Chinese cigarette packs, the words are often so small and obscure to make them next to useless.

As far as I know, by now, 44 countries have put health warning images on tobacco products. In Uruguay, such signs cover 80 percent of packaging, and in Britain, some pictures show the lungs of cancer patients while others reveal rotten teeth. In Denmark, warnings include pictures of black lungs and even corpses lying in mortuaries.

In the face of such disgusting images, resistance might well grow, even amongst hardcore addicts. It's high time for China to also print graphic health warnings on tobacco product packaging.

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