The International Tobacco Control (ITC) Project has released a report saying high levels of heavy metals are found in 13 Chinese cigarettes, with some containing three times the level of lead, cadmium and arsenic of Canadian brands, according to Beijing Times.

The report says these three heavy metals may pose risks to people's health, causing headaches, insomnia, and even cancer.

Medical specialist Hao Fengtong says the heavy metals in cigarettes mainly come from the environment around cigarette production area.

The Project points out about a million smokers die each year in China from tobacco-related diseases and 100,000 people from exposure to second-hand smoke.

"If current trends continue, China will soon find itself in the midst of an even more devastating public health disaster than they are experiencing now," said the lead researcher of the project Geoffrey Fong from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

Yang Gonghuan, depute director of National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, noted that China's current self-examination system in the cigarette industry increases the risk of high levels of heavy metal in cigarettes. China should take this seriously and learn from international experience.

(CRIENGLISH.com October 11, 2010)