Tag: smoking bans

  • Tobacco smoking ban working

    Smoking in China photo
    Photo by kevinpoh

    Although Beijing residents accustomed to smoky restaurants and bars doubted that the city’s latest ban on tobacco smoking would have any effect, it’s been a slow but steady success, according to a story by Kyle Mullin for The Beijinger.

    No doubt the residents were influenced by the many commentators who, after the announcement of the public-places smoking ban, predicted non-compliance on a grand scale.

    However, if they had looked around the world, they would have seen that smokers are generally law abiding – much more so than are drivers, for instance – and that smoking bans, where properly enforced, have been complied with – unlike speed limits.

    And this has been the case in Beijing where most food and beverage venues have reported good compliance with the rules.

    Not only that; state media recently reported that 200,000 fewer Beijingers are lighting up these days than used to be the case. Based on findings jointly released at the end of 2016 by the Beijing Patriotic Health Campaign Committee and the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, the percentage of local adult smokers has gone down from 23.4 percent in 2014 to 22.3 percent this year.

    Stricter smoking restrictions were announced in 2014, and put into effect citywide in 2015, barring anyone from smoking at eateries and workplaces, on public transport and at other public places.

  • Olympic ban on the cards

    Olympic ban on the cards

    Smoking in Japan photo
    Photo by eerkmans

    Japan’s health minister said on Friday that the elimination of second-hand cigarette smoke was the government’s “mission”, and pledged to make efforts to curb public smoking ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

    Speaking at a news conference, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki said other host countries had adopted smoking regulations and penalties in recent years.

    Reducing cigarette smoke was “a big trend across the world”.

    The health ministry hopes to submit a bill to revise the Health Promotion Law and potentially ban smoking in all indoor public spaces.

    In its Tobacco White Paper released last year, the ministry acknowledged that second-hand smoke raised the risk of lung cancer.

    But on Thursday, restaurant industry groups voiced opposition to banning smoking in restaurants and argued that Japan should aim to become a leading country in promoting separate smoking areas.

    Shiozaki shrugged them off, saying it was important to protect people from second-hand smoke with an eye to increasing visitors to Japan.

    The White Paper said setting up sealed smoking rooms did not prevent cigarette smoke from leaking into areas occupied by non-smokers.

    And employees tasked with cleaning up those rooms were affected.

  • Smoking ban a priority

    Smog China photo
    Photo by Dean Hochman

    About 10 percent of the population of China has legal protection against second-hand tobacco smoke, according to a story in The China Daily citing a new report.

    The report, A Civil Society Perspective on Tobacco Control in China 2016, was published on Tuesday by the ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development (TRCHD), which the Daily described as one of the country’s most outspoken NGOs committed to tobacco control.

    To date, only three Chinese cities – Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen – have imposed smoking bans in public places, while some smaller cities have introduced local laws on tobacco control.

    “That’s far from enough and a national tobacco control law is imperative to provide a legal basis for fighting, in particular, passive smoking,” said Wu Yiqun, deputy director of the TRCHD.

    Beijing introduced its tobacco control law in June 2015 when it banned tobacco smoking in all public places, such as workplaces, schools, hospitals and airports.

    Citing figures from surveys by local health administrations, the report said that since the implementation of the law, the number of smokers in the capital had fallen by 200,000.

    The World Health Organization’s China representative Bernhard Schwartlander praised Beijing for its tobacco control law, but added that “the fight is far from over”.

    Implementing a national law was a top priority for 2017, Schwartlander said.

    In November, National Health and Family Planning Commission spokesman Mao Qun’an said a national law would be implemented by the end of the 2016. But it wasn’t.

  • Lawyer calls smoking ban “torture”

    A lawyer who described a smoking ban at health facilities in West Auckland and North Shore, in New Zealand, as cruel and torturous has told a court hospitals need dedicated smoking rooms, according to a story on Radio New Zealand.

    Smoking has been banned on all Waitemata District Health Board sites since 2009.

    Two former psychiatric patients and a retired nurse are challenging the ban in the DHB’s mental health units.

    Their lawyer, Richard Francois, told the High Court in Auckland on Monday that some psychiatric patients are refusing care because they can’t smoke—which he says shows that the ban is cruel and nothing short of torture.

  • Smoking bans move further into the open

    Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that New York’s smoke-free areas will be expanded to state parks and historic sites, according to a report by Jess String for The Legislative Gazette.

    The expansion will take effect in time for the 2013 peak summer season.

    Violators will be liable to a fine of up to $250, plus surcharges if they fail to comply.
    “Our state parks embody the rich, natural beauty that New York has to offer, and our residents should be able to enjoy them free of pollution for [sic] second hand smoke,” said Cuomo.

    “Today’s announcement of the expansion of smoke-free zones in our state parks is an important step forward in ensuring New York’s families can enjoy our great outdoors smoke-free, in a healthy environment.”

    String wrote that, according to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation’s website, the smoke-free areas did not encompass the entirety of the parks, but were limited to swimming areas, beach areas, bathhouses, concessions, pavilions, shelters, playgrounds, picnic shelters and places where educational programs were conducted.

    However, outdoor historic parks were almost completely smoke-free, as were all state parks in New York City.