Warning straight from the horse’s mouth

A number of Chinese health organizations are asking people not to send cigarettes as gifts nor offer them to guests during the current Spring Festival, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.

The festival, which takes in the Chinese New Year, started on Friday and is due to end on Thursday.

The organizations, including the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association and the Chinese Medical Association, made the plea just prior to the arrival of the Year of the Horse.

They are trying to dissuade people from encouraging others to smoke, and to persuade smokers not to indulge their habit at public venues.

They want medical workers to disseminate the idea that smoking is harmful and might lead to cancer, heart disease, lung disease and death.