Both the number of smokers as well as tobacco consumption in Japan should be halved by 2010, a Health and Welfare Ministry advisory panel said in a report released Thursday.

The report, "Health Japan 21," submitted to the Council on Public Health by a subcommittee, is part of the ministry's efforts to map out a 10-year plan to boost the health of the public, using numerical targets.

The ministry has spearheaded several antismoking campaigns in the past, but Thursday's paper marks the first time it has cited specific numbers in its battle against tobacco.

The action plan covers nine areas, including diabetes, tobacco and alcohol use, in an effort to draft a comprehensive blueprint to tackle geriatric diseases.

It is expected to be finalized later this year after local hearings and symposiums are held to collect a wide range of opinions. Public opinion will also be solicited via the Internet.

However, the tobacco industry has already submitted a request for the document draft to be amended, and the debate on curbing domestic tobacco use is expected to heat up further.

The subcommittee initially considered using such figures as lung cancer and heart disease death rates as a benchmark for its plan, but opted to use the tobacco consumption and smoking rates because they would take less time to calculate to determine the program's effectiveness in the short term.

Specifically, Thursday's report says the percentage of adult smokers, which stood at 52.7 percent for men and 11.6 percent for women in a 1997 government survey, should be halved.

It also targets cigarette consumption, saying per capita consumption of people over 14 -- 3,152 cigarettes a year according to an industry survey in 1998 -- should be halved by 2010.

The subcommittee stressed the need to curb smoking among the younger generation, and the report says the percentage of smoking minors should also be halved. The objective was included in the paper even though minors are banned from smoking by law, because the reality is that cigarette use by minors is on the rise, panel members said.

The panel also suggested that to achieve these objectives, the government should beef up education at schools and on the community level. It also proposed that smoking be fully banned at public places and offices.

On youth education, the report says this segment of society needed to be protected "through cleaning up the social environment and with regulations," indicating the government may in the future mull restrictions on tobacco vending machines and advertisements.

In response, domestic giant Japan Tobacco Co., as well as industry bodies, have voiced opposition to the draft proposals, saying establishment of numerical targets will lead to administrative control over people's tastes, and such moves would adversely affect tobacco farmers and distributors.