A national edict for next year: Butt out
By Wang Xiang |
01:01 UTC+8 May 11, 2010
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA would ban public and workplace smoking nationwide beginning next year, a senior official with the Ministry of Health said yesterday.
Yang Qing told a press conference that the outright ban on public smoking was suggested by the World Health Organization and would come into effect in China from next January. No further details of the ban were revealed.
Yang said Health Minister Chen Zhu had ordered a smoking ban in at least half of all hospitals in China at the end of this year, China News Service reported yesterday.
In an online poll by sina.com.cn, more than 58 percent among 3,760 respondents thought the ban would be ineffective.
The 300 million-plus smokers on Chinese mainland consume a third of the world's cigarettes. A million of them die each year from smoking-related illnesses. The figure is expected to increase to 2 million by 2020, Reuters reported, quoting the Paris-based International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
Shanghai issued the city's first law to ban public smoking on March 1.
People who smoke in 12 designated public areas - including schools, hospitals, supermarkets and elevators - face fines ranging from 50 yuan (US$7.32) to 200 yuan.
According to the Shanghai law, non-smoking areas must also be set up in karaoke bars, dance balls and restaurants. Low legislated fines have attracted critics, who also said the laws were difficult to enforce.
Many restaurants or cafes are reluctant to report smoking offenders as they fear losing customers.
"We would try to politely persuade a smoker to enter a smoking area, but we cannot do anything about it if the smoker refuses," said an assistant surnamed Chen at a local cinema.
However, Xiong Bianfeng, director of smoking control at a community in Shanghai's Jingan District, said the laws helped encourage people to police each other in the interests of a clean and healthy atmosphere.
Yang Qing told a press conference that the outright ban on public smoking was suggested by the World Health Organization and would come into effect in China from next January. No further details of the ban were revealed.
Yang said Health Minister Chen Zhu had ordered a smoking ban in at least half of all hospitals in China at the end of this year, China News Service reported yesterday.
In an online poll by sina.com.cn, more than 58 percent among 3,760 respondents thought the ban would be ineffective.
The 300 million-plus smokers on Chinese mainland consume a third of the world's cigarettes. A million of them die each year from smoking-related illnesses. The figure is expected to increase to 2 million by 2020, Reuters reported, quoting the Paris-based International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
Shanghai issued the city's first law to ban public smoking on March 1.
People who smoke in 12 designated public areas - including schools, hospitals, supermarkets and elevators - face fines ranging from 50 yuan (US$7.32) to 200 yuan.
According to the Shanghai law, non-smoking areas must also be set up in karaoke bars, dance balls and restaurants. Low legislated fines have attracted critics, who also said the laws were difficult to enforce.
Many restaurants or cafes are reluctant to report smoking offenders as they fear losing customers.
"We would try to politely persuade a smoker to enter a smoking area, but we cannot do anything about it if the smoker refuses," said an assistant surnamed Chen at a local cinema.
However, Xiong Bianfeng, director of smoking control at a community in Shanghai's Jingan District, said the laws helped encourage people to police each other in the interests of a clean and healthy atmosphere.
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