Indoor smoking ban hits city

Indoor smoking ban hits city

• Source: Global Times
• [09:11 March 24 2011]
• Comments

China enacted a new rule to ban smoking in enclosed public locations, according to the country's Ministry of Health on Tuesday.

Issued by the ministry, the new rule, which will take effect on May 1, was added to the revised regulations on health management in public places.

The new anti-smoking rule illustrates the government's resolution to intensify tobacco control efforts in China, which has ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control of the World Health Organization, said Xie Yang, an official from the ministry.

The revised regulations also stipulate that business owners should set up conspicuous non-smoking signs, carry out promotional campaigns to alert people to the dangers of smoking, and direct employees to dissuade those smoking in public.

It also increased the fines for those violating the regulations from 20 yuan ($3) to 500 yuan.

Also, outdoor smoking areas should not occupy sidewalks and passageways while cigarette vending machines are not allowed in public places, the regulation said.

On the same day, the tobacco control office of the Chinese Center For Disease Control And Prevention published a report regarding the health risks of secondhand smoke on its official website, which claims it more "harmful than the radiation from Japan."

Smoking one package of cigarettes a day equals standing two hours outside the Fukushima nuclear plant, and the amount of radiation for a non-smoker who is frequently exposed to secondhand smoke each year is equal to "staying in Tokyo for 10 days," reads the report.

China currently has no regulations regarding secondhand smoke, while about 72 percent of Chinese non-smokers are exposed to smoke one day per week in public places such as restaurants, office buildings, schools, hospitals and on public transportation.

There are over 300 million smokers in China, and figures show that tobacco use and secondhand smoke kill roughly 1.2 million people per year.

Xinhua-Global Times