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Defiant smokers blow off new national smoking ban
Source: Xinhua |
May 9, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MARVELING at the futurist architecture, Jiang lit up a cigarette as he got off a tourist bus in front of the National Center for the Performing Arts in the heart of Beijing.
"It was my first visit to the grand theater," said the 60-year-old farmer from east China who only gave his surname Jiang, referring to the new, French-designed new icon of the Chinese capital.
Jiang, excited to explore the structure, strode into the hall, with the burning cigarette still in hand. No one stopped him as he puffed away. This blatant violation of a new national smoking ban demonstrates the huge challenge Chinese health authorities face in enforcing the ban in all enclosed public venues in a country with the world's largest number of smokers - 350 million - and a deeply rooted tobacco culture.
Smoking-related diseases kill roughly 1.2 million Chinese every year and the death rate is expected to keep climbing in the coming decades, according to estimates of the World Health Organization and Chinese health authorities. The rate of smoking-related, debilitating conditions (cancer, stroke, heart disease, cardiovascular problems) also continues to rise.
The new ban, effective on May 1, issued by the Ministry of Health in March, is the latest government response to curb tobacco use. Experts say the ban is more likely to be ignored by smokers, public venue operators, and the general public due to its vagueness, since it fails to specify adequate supervision measures and punishments for violations.
"I don't know about the ban," said Jiang, a smoker for nearly 40 years. "I'm very addicted to the habit, but I would not have smoked here if someone told me not to."
At the entrance to the National Center for Performing Arts and its main hall where Jiang lit up, no No Smoking signs are obvious.. Outside the NCPA, the pedestrian walk leading to Tian'anmen Square is littered with cigarette butts.
Tourists are also seen lighting up in the crowds between Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City, facing the giant portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong who was a heavy smoker himself.
Hastily enacted
The Health Ministry's smoking ban also stipulates that business owners of places frequented by the public should set up conspicuous non-smoking signs, carry out anti-smoking education by making materials available, and dispatch staff to dissuade smokers.
Further, designated outdoor smoking areas should not be located on public pathways and cigarette vending machines should not be installed in public places.
Calling it important progress, Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the ban was hastily enacted as no significant improvement was achieved in the two months after the ban was announced.
Yang, a leading Chinese tobacco control expert, said "it takes a long time" to train smoking ban enforcers, set up active supervision hotlines, and raise the public's awareness to the point that mass supervision and self-restraint can be effective. Yang said the ban's major weakness is lack of punishment for violations as well as strong and concrete clauses for enforcement. He hopes these will be enacted in the future.
China does not have a comprehensive national law on tobacco control. Smoking is supposed to be most strictly banned by government regulations in hospitals, schools, and on public transport.
But a visit to the Beijing Children's Hospital reveals that banning smoking is not easy. Migrant construction workers are seen lighting up occasionally in the men's toilet of the otherwise apparently smoke-free hospital compound.
"I know smoking is bad, especially in a hospital, but I just could not resist the urge," a migrant worker told Xinhua while smoking in the toilet.
In Beijing, high-end hotels, department stores and restaurants have imposed strict bans on smoking, while owners of many back-street eateries say they would risk bankruptcy if the smoking ban is enforced.
China ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003, but implementation of the treaty has been slow over the past few years, health experts say in a report published earlier this year.
Yang, a lead writer of the report, said government policy is not the only important part of tobacco control initiatives. Raising public awareness remains the key to success. A survey conducted by the China CDC shows that only 25 percent of Chinese know exactly about the danger of smoking and second-hand smoke.
"It was my first visit to the grand theater," said the 60-year-old farmer from east China who only gave his surname Jiang, referring to the new, French-designed new icon of the Chinese capital.
Jiang, excited to explore the structure, strode into the hall, with the burning cigarette still in hand. No one stopped him as he puffed away. This blatant violation of a new national smoking ban demonstrates the huge challenge Chinese health authorities face in enforcing the ban in all enclosed public venues in a country with the world's largest number of smokers - 350 million - and a deeply rooted tobacco culture.
Smoking-related diseases kill roughly 1.2 million Chinese every year and the death rate is expected to keep climbing in the coming decades, according to estimates of the World Health Organization and Chinese health authorities. The rate of smoking-related, debilitating conditions (cancer, stroke, heart disease, cardiovascular problems) also continues to rise.
The new ban, effective on May 1, issued by the Ministry of Health in March, is the latest government response to curb tobacco use. Experts say the ban is more likely to be ignored by smokers, public venue operators, and the general public due to its vagueness, since it fails to specify adequate supervision measures and punishments for violations.
"I don't know about the ban," said Jiang, a smoker for nearly 40 years. "I'm very addicted to the habit, but I would not have smoked here if someone told me not to."
At the entrance to the National Center for Performing Arts and its main hall where Jiang lit up, no No Smoking signs are obvious.. Outside the NCPA, the pedestrian walk leading to Tian'anmen Square is littered with cigarette butts.
Tourists are also seen lighting up in the crowds between Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City, facing the giant portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong who was a heavy smoker himself.
Hastily enacted
The Health Ministry's smoking ban also stipulates that business owners of places frequented by the public should set up conspicuous non-smoking signs, carry out anti-smoking education by making materials available, and dispatch staff to dissuade smokers.
Further, designated outdoor smoking areas should not be located on public pathways and cigarette vending machines should not be installed in public places.
Calling it important progress, Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the ban was hastily enacted as no significant improvement was achieved in the two months after the ban was announced.
Yang, a leading Chinese tobacco control expert, said "it takes a long time" to train smoking ban enforcers, set up active supervision hotlines, and raise the public's awareness to the point that mass supervision and self-restraint can be effective. Yang said the ban's major weakness is lack of punishment for violations as well as strong and concrete clauses for enforcement. He hopes these will be enacted in the future.
China does not have a comprehensive national law on tobacco control. Smoking is supposed to be most strictly banned by government regulations in hospitals, schools, and on public transport.
But a visit to the Beijing Children's Hospital reveals that banning smoking is not easy. Migrant construction workers are seen lighting up occasionally in the men's toilet of the otherwise apparently smoke-free hospital compound.
"I know smoking is bad, especially in a hospital, but I just could not resist the urge," a migrant worker told Xinhua while smoking in the toilet.
In Beijing, high-end hotels, department stores and restaurants have imposed strict bans on smoking, while owners of many back-street eateries say they would risk bankruptcy if the smoking ban is enforced.
China ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003, but implementation of the treaty has been slow over the past few years, health experts say in a report published earlier this year.
Yang, a lead writer of the report, said government policy is not the only important part of tobacco control initiatives. Raising public awareness remains the key to success. A survey conducted by the China CDC shows that only 25 percent of Chinese know exactly about the danger of smoking and second-hand smoke.
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