Millions to die in China from lung disease

In an article published in The Lancet, they predicted 65 million deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 18 million deaths from lung cancer between 2003 and 2033 from smoking and biomass burning at home.

Those figures would account for 19 and 5 percent respectively of all deaths in China during that period, said the researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

However, interventions to reduce smoking and household use of biomass -- like wood, charcoal, crop residues and dung -- for cooking and heating could reduce the number of deaths.

Using mathematical models, they said gradual elimination of smoking and biomass burning would avoid 26 million deaths from COPD and 6.3 million deaths from lung cancer by 2033.

"There are proven ways to reduce tobacco smoking and to provide homes with clean-burning energy alternatives. China can save millions of premature deaths from respiratory diseases in the next few decades if it ... implements these interventions," said Majid Ezzati, associate professor of international health at HSPH and senior author of the study.

Respiratory diseases are among the 10 leading causes of deaths in China. About half of Chinese men smoke and in more than 70 percent of homes, Chinese cook and heat their homes with wood, coal and crop residues.

Globally, more than 900 million of the world's 1.1 billion smokers currently live in low-income and middle-income countries and about one half of the world's population uses biomass and coal for household energy.