Marlboro Fun

Not too long ago, I highlighted in a Health Politics program the fact that China was the No. 1 producer of cigarettes in the world, in part because they had an interest in profiting (at least short term) from meeting the demands of the largest cigarette market in the world -- China itself.

Well, now, China is buying the rights to one of the most famous U.S. brands, Marlboro. Marlboro’s parent company, Philip Morris, a subsidiary of Altria, is happy to sell to the state-owned monopoly, the China National Tobacco Corp., to produce and distribute Marlboro cigarettes in China.

Marlboro is the largest cigarette brand on Earth, controlling about 8% of the total cigarette market share. Now Marlboro has a solid entre'e to some 320 million additional smokers who drew down some 1.8 trillion cigarettes just last year.

But if you think the Marlboro man will cross the border and stay put, listen to this. Currently one-third of all cigarettes smoked in the world are made in China, and as part of this new deal, a 50-50 joint venture between Altria and China National Tobacco has been established in Switzerland to expand marketing and distribution of Chinese cigarettes abroad.

Just when you thought bad policy couldn't get worse, traditional global foes unite around strategies to advance death and disability.