It has been revealed that banning smoking in public venues will
be included in the amended Regulations on Public Sanitation
Management, although there is still no timetable when the amended
regulations will be published and take effect.
This will be the first time such a ban has won support from
national administrative regulations adopted by the State
Council.
While it is senseless to question the consensus that secondhand
smoking kills, it will be an arduous battle to protect non-smokers
from being harmed by passive smoking. This is not only because
China accounts for one-third of the world's total smokers, with 350
million, but because most smokers stubbornly insist they have the
right and freedom to smoke wherever they want.
A tobacco control report published by the central government two
months ago estimated that 540 million people are affected by
breathing in secondhand smoke. This sends a message of how serious
the harm done to passive smokers and how difficult will it be to
ban smoking in public places.
Quite a number of localities have introduced their own smoking
bans. But often, smokers can be spotted dragging on their
cigarettes without ever looking at the "No Smoking" sign just above
their heads.
However hard it will be, banning smoking in public venues is of
great significance in different dimensions to the future of this
country.
The trend of more youth joining the rank of smokers will not be
curbed without effectively banning smoking in public venues. Both
interact as cause and effect. The expanding forces of smokers will
undoubtedly make it harder to have smoking-free public venues while
ineffective smoking bans in public places can hardly drive home the
message that smoking with no regard to the health of others equals
murder.
Increasing investment and manpower in efforts to ban smoking in
public venues can be an opportunity for the country to cultivate
the awareness of concern for others, which is badly in need for
building a harmonious society.
Heavy fines will remind those who take no heed of how others
feel when they smoke that there is a price to pay for the harm
their smoking might cause.
(China Daily August 13, 2007)