THE smoke alarm is ringing vigorously across the globe. While in the US President Clinton in a dramatic assault on cigarette use - has declared nicotine a drug and ordered a crackdown on childhood smoking, in China the communist government has put a blanket ban on tobacco advertising (Down To Earth, August 15).

Clinton has issued guidelines for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that would attack children's cigarette smoking by banning cigarette vending machines and sports sponsorships by cigarette brands and by imposing severe restrictions on tobacco advertising. Tobacco companies and advertising interest groups have filed lawsuits challenging the measure. Even some of his fellow Democrats like Charlie Rose, representing Nbrth Carolina, the state with tobacco as its largest cash crop, have accused Clinton of being interested only in "making a big political splash". The FDA commissioner, David Kessler, is, however, standing firm by the President's side. "This is the number one preventable cause of death and disability in this country," he said. His agency must wait 90 days for public comment before implementing the rules. And the Republican dominated Congress is expected to use this period to work out a strong offensive against the controversial legislation.

Meanwhile, in China the government's strategy of blacking out cigarette advertising seems to have fallen flat. According to a latest estimate published in the People's Daily, the number of smokers in China is increasing at the rate of 7 per cent a year, a giant leap from the previous year's 2 per cent per %,ear. The cost of treating smoking-related illnesses in China and labour losses from such diseases has overtaken tobacco tax revenues, says the newspaper. The experts make a chilling prediction: by the vear 2000, 2 million Chinese people ill die ofover-smoking everyyear ifthe rakes are not put on now.