Public don’t think smoking ban will work
Print Edition
THOUGH Beijing has outlawed indoor smoking in public spaces, the public remains skeptical that the latest smoking ban will be enforced.
In November, the capital’s legislature passed an anti-smoking bill banning smoking in all indoor public places, workplaces, and on public transport. It is due to take effect in June.
But doubts about the feasibility of the regulation have been growing, with smokers still seen puffing away in restaurants, schools and other public spaces in the city, despite previous smoking bans in these places.
In response to the public’s suspicions, Zhong Dongbo, deputy head of the Beijing Commission of Health and Family Planning Commission, said the local government will increase law-enforcement teams and launch tip-off hotlines to make sure the regulation is implemented effectively.
“Local departments will take measures when illegal smoking is reported, and reports from the public and how these reports are handled will be recorded,” Zhong said.
“Not only our commission, but also tobacco departments, education authorities and public security staff should all bear legal responsibility to contain public smoking.”
China is home to over 300 million smokers, with more than a million people dying as a result of tobacco-related illness a year, according to the World Health Organization.
China signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003. It says China should have banned smoking in indoor public areas completely by 2011.
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