Snuffing out Tobacco Use

　　Among the many things in the world at whichChina ranks number one， smoking is perhaps the mostundignified. The number of Chinese smokers totals 300million， roughly equivalent to the entire U.S. population，and one third of the global smoking population. Theprevalence of smoking as a habit leaves at least 740million non-smokers regularly exposed to secondhandsmoke and 1.4 million Chinese die from smoking-relateddiseases every year on the mainland.

　　With a determination to reduce the number of smokers，Chinese authorities have begun to require officialsaround the country to set a good example so as to supportits tobacco-control campaign.

　　According to a circular released on December 29 lastyear by the Communist Party of China Central Committeeand the State Council， China’s cabinet， Party andgovernment officials are not allowed to smoke in schools，hospitals， sports venues， on public transport vehicles， orany other public place where smoking is banned.

　　The circular also bans government functionaries fromsmoking or offering cigarettes to others at work or duringother official activities， including meetings and businessdinners.

　　Other requirements include： The sale of tobacco productsand advertisements will no longer be allowed in Partyand government offices； and prominent notices announcingsmoking bans must be displayed in meeting rooms，reception offices， passageways， cafeterias and restrooms.Yang Gonghuan， Professor of Peking Union MedicalCollege and former Deputy Director of the Chinese Centerfor Disease Control and Prevention， believes that thecircular is a landmark in the country’s journey toward aneffective tobacco-control system.

　　“The circular can be regarded as a political commitmentmade by central authorities. Such a vowregarding tobacco control is unprecedented，” Yangsaid.

　　An opportunity

　　According to statistics from the ChineseAssociation on Tobacco Control， 61 percentof male Party and government officials inthe country are habitual smokers， and 52.7percent of them say that they have neverattempted quitting.

　　In response to the latest smoking ban， an anonymousofficial from central China’s Henan Province was quoted byBeijing Times as saying that “the policy should not be implementedhastily，” as exchanging cigarettes has for a longtime been considered standard practice among officials.Despite the skepticism， the National Health and FamilyPlanning Commission has vowed to build a smoke-freesocial environment with intensified tobacco controladvertising and health education that will help raise socialawareness about the harm tobacco causes.

　　On January 1， 2014， Mao Qun’an， the commission’sspokesman， said that his commission will coordinate withother government departments to promote legislation fortobacco control.

　　Li Tong， a county official in southeast China’s FujianProvince， said that the effect of the circular is already beingfelt. “It was habit to exchange cigarettes before a meetingbegan， and meeting rooms used to be full of smokewhen officials gathered. But now， top county leadershave taken the lead in putting out cigarettes beforeentering meeting rooms， and other participantshave followed，” Li said.

　　Similar progress has also been reported in otherplaces.

　　In Nanchang， capital of Jiangxi Province， organizersof the local legislative session， whichwas held on January 8-12， displayed about20 posters emphasizing the smoking ban inmeeting rooms， lobbies， corridors and restareas. The posters were put up to remind participants，many of whom were local officials，not to light up， said Wu Xincai， an official with the StandingCommittee of the Nanchang Municipal People’s Congress，the city’s legislature.

　　In 2003， China signed the WHO Framework Conventionon Tobacco Control (FCTC) and it became effectivein the country in January 2006. The FCTC requires areduction in tobacco supply and consumption， as well as atotal smoking ban in workplaces， public venues and publictransportation by January 2011. But this hasn’t happenedin China.

　　To show its determination to press ahead with theissue， in its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15)， the ChineseGovernment promised that smoking in public places willbe banned outright by 2015.

　　However， a report released by ThinkTank in early lastDecember found that the productionturnover of cigarettes on the Chinesemainland had increased by nearly 50 percentover the past decade. In 2012 alone，2.58 trillion cigarettes were produced inChina.

　　Meanwhile， the consumption oftobacco in China rose 41.8 percent in thesame period， while global consumptiondeclined around 10 percent.

　　China’s inability to protect its peoplefrom the smoking epidemic has tarnishedthe country’s image abroad， said Xu Guihua， Deputy Directorof the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control.

　　A long-term campaign

　　According to a WHO tobacco control assessment report，China ranks in the bottom 10 percent of all FCTC signatorycountries and regions in terms of implementing smokingbans at public places and workplaces.

　　The country did even worse in its efforts to ban tobaccoadvertising， promotion and sponsorship， Xu said.

　　An international survey of six countries found that 86percent of Chinese children polled could recognize at leastone cigarette brand， higher than in Russia， India， Pakistan，Nigeria and Brazil.

　　Tobacco companies have moved online to get aroundbans on tobacco product advertising in conventional mediasuch as newspapers and broadcasting， said Wu Yiqun，Deputy Director of the ThinkTank.

　　Wu cited the website Yanyue.cn， where users canparticipate in a jigsaw puzzle contest. When the picture iscompleted， the logo of a tobacco brand appears， she said，adding that winners receive free packs of cigarettes.

　　Currently， more than 10 Chinese cities have smokingcontrol regulations， all of which ban smoking in publicbuildings， according to Wang Qingbin， an associate professorat Beijing-based China University of Political Scienceand Law. “But implementation of the rules is unsatisfactory，mostly because there is a lack of either enforcementor awareness of them，” he commented.

　　Another complaint of Wang is that municipal-level rulesmainly target businesses such as restaurants， Internetbars， hotels and movie theaters， but do not focus onindividual smokers.

　　In Tianshui， northwest China’s Gansu Province， whena business applies for a basic hygiene certificate， it is requiredto sign a guarantee that it will ban smoking indoors.

　　It must also submit a plan to maintain hygiene， includinghow they will work to control tobacco use， according toLiu Jiong， a local health official.

　　“Health inspectors have fined some business ownerswhen they failed to maintain the ban， but there are nospecifications on how to punish smokers，” Liu said.China’s health authorities are working on a law that willban smoking in all indoor public venues while clarifyingthe punishments for doing so， said Mao.

　　At a press conference on January 8， 2014， Maorevealed that work on a draft of the law began last yearand that the commission is working hard to get nationallawmakers to issue laws on smoking control with strongerpowers than the current regulations have.

　　According to Mao， regulations banning smoking in publicvenues are effective in many places but they are vagueon the punishments， so a new law that clarifies them isnecessary.

　　“Compared with the damage to health caused bysmoking， the economic benefits brought on by tobaccoare trivial，” Mao said. “So we are promoting legislation onsmoking control to tackle this.”

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