Fiddling as the air kills

Xian has become the latest city in China to ban tobacco smoking in public places, according to a story in The South China Morning Post.
This latest ban follows those introduced in Beijing in 2015 and in Shanghai and Shenzhen in 2017.
The Chinese government outlawed smoking in enclosed public places nationwide in 2011, but the ban, which was not backed by penalties, was barely implemented at local level and, when it was, it was poorly enforced.
The authorities in Xian announced that, effective from November 1, smoking in enclosed public places would be prohibited, including on public transport.
Smoking is due to be banned, too, in some outdoor public places such as sports stadiums, children’s parks and school playgrounds.
The laws were published in full on the website Xian News on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the eastern city of Hangzhou amended a proposed ban on indoor smoking earlier this year after lobbying from China Tobacco, the state tobacco manufacturer, according to a Reuters report. Now, the city must provide designated indoor smoking areas.
Xian’s new legislation has been welcomed by public health experts at the World Health Organization.
“This 100 percent smoke-free regulation is a wonderful gift for the people and visitors of Xian,” said Dr. Shin Young-soo, the WHO’s regional director. “It is the gift of health and air free from harmful second-hand smoke.
However, as was reported here yesterday, there is no escape. The WHO says that toxic air that billions of people breath every day is the ‘new tobacco’.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO has declared that air pollution is a public health emergency that is killing seven million people every year and seriously damaging the health of many more.
‘Despite this epidemic of needless, preventable deaths and disability, a smog of complacency pervades the planet,’ Tedros said. ‘This is a defining moment and we must scale up action to urgently respond to this challenge.’