AROUND 700m Asians, mostly men, cannot get through the day without puffing on a cigarette. The habit is thought to kill around 2.3m Asians every year, almost half of the global victims of smoking. Cigarette consumption in China soared between 1970 and 1990 but has fallen slightly since. Most Asian countries have signed the WHO's tobacco-control treaty, committing themselves to restricting cigarette marketing, curbing smoking in public and helping smokers to give up. Not a moment too soon: not only is smoking among men far more common than in the West, there is concern that Asia will follow the Western trend, with more women taking up smoking as men quit.

AFP