Beijing ban working well

Twelve months on from the introduction of Beijing’s smoking ban, public places in China’s capital city are now ‘cleaner, healthier and safer’, according to a Xinhua Newswire story.

Beijing, which is home to more than four million adult smokers, rolled out what was seen as very strict regulations on June 1, 2015, prohibiting smoking in indoor public places, workplaces and on public transportation.

The Chinese Association on Tobacco Control carried out surveys in April 2015 and May 2016 that showed that last month 84 percent of people were satisfied with the tobacco control measures, double the percentage that were satisfied with them last year. Moreover, in excess of 93 percent of interviewees supported the smoke-free regulation.

And, according to a report by the Beijing Youth Daily, the department of Chaoyang hospital charged with helping people quit smoking experienced a big rise in attendees from last October. Now, about 100 smokers a month sign up to the service, two to three times the number before the new law was enforced.

“In the year since the rule was enforced, we have progressed beyond our imagination,” said Mao Qun’an, an official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

While upbeat about the results, Angela Pratta, who leads the WHO Tobacco Free Initiative in China, said the ban had not always been so popular. “A lot of people said it was crazy,” she said. “They said the law would never work, and even if it was passed, enforcement would be an issue. The survey, however, has quashed all doubt. It shows that the law works, and, moreover, that people support it.”

Pratta said that there was a similar attitude today over the feasibility of a nation-wide regulation, which is currently being discussed with the view for it to be in place by the end of the year.

A national law is said to be necessary, but medical staff, legal experts and law enforcement officers are thought to be concerned about the current draft.

It limits indoor smoke-free areas to shared spaces, while restaurants, cafés, hotels and airport terminal buildings would be allowed to have dedicated smoking areas. It also gives smokers a second chance; so there would be a verbal warning for their first offense.

“In China, the only non-shared space in the workplace is the office of senior managers,” said Wu Yiqun, deputy director of the ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development. “If top leaders are allowed to smoke in the building, what sort of example are they setting for other employees?”

Meanwhile, Cui Xiaobo, professor with the Capital Medical University in Beijing, said smoking areas were ineffective. “Smoke drifts,” he said. “The flow of air means that smoking areas are basically non-functional.”

And Wang Benjin, deputy head of the Beijing Health Inspection Institute, believes smoking areas could complicate law enforcement. “It would be confusing because smoking areas differ place to place,” he said. “So how do we identify who is breaking the law?”

Some other people expressed concern that a more relaxed national law might dilute the strict ban in Beijing.