China to impose nation-wide ban
Smoking less but better
China is to issue a new public-places tobacco-smoking regulation by the ‘end of the year’, according to a story by Yang Jian for the Shanghai Daily quoting a senior official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
Mao Qun’an, head of the commission’s publicity department, told a press conference at the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion in Shanghai yesterday that the regulation, which will control smoking in public places nationwide, was passing through the legislative process.
“Strictly controlling smoking in public places in a legal way is a promotion for health,” Mao said. “That smoking harms health has become a global consensus.”
According to a draft of the regulation, tobacco smoking will be prohibited in all indoor public venues, workplaces and public transport systems, as well as in outdoor areas that include primary schools, kindergartens, children’s training institutes, historic sites, children’s hospitals and stadiums.
Violations by individuals will incur fines of up to 500 yuan (US$73), while companies that breach the rule will face fines up to 30,000 yuan and the loss of their business license.
Mao said almost 20 Chinese cities had already drawn up no-smoking rules, including Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou.
He said the biggest obstacle to the regulation, first published as a draft in 2014, had been the public’s lack of awareness about the harm smoking causes.
