New Beijing cigarette rules lauded

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-22 15:56

A taxi driver posts a no-smoking sticker.

The efforts made by Beijing Health Bureau as well as other organizations for a smoke-free Olympics have earned recognition from all sides.

Sarah England, a technical officer who leads World Health Organization's work in tobacco control in China, said "getting the smoke-free message out is an enormous breakthrough for China".

"Beijing and some other host cities brought in regulations to make the Games smoke-free inside. This brings China closer in line with other countries, both developed and developing, that already ensure that public places are smoke-free," she told China Daily.

Thomas Travers with the London Development Agency was also impressed with the smoke-free environment, while touring the Main Press Center on Wednesday with organizers and bidders for future Olympics.

"What I've seen here is more and less the same with what we have in London, as the UK imposed smoking ban in restaurants, pubs and clubs from 2007," Travers said.

"I haven't seen a lot of people smoking in public areas in Beijing."

"It's a global trend where everybody has growing awareness of it. It's good for the public health in Beijing and China," he added.

Atul Dalakoti, executive director of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, who has lived in Beijing for nearly 31 years, said he was very glad smoking in the public areas had dramatically reduced.

"The clean atmosphere is not only good for foreigners, but more for the Chinese people, especially for the health of children who are the future of the country," Atul said.

"Beijing will become one of the most livable cities in the world if we can work on things such as smoke-free and smog-free, polite and international residents," Atul said.

"All these things change the DNA of the city."

"The best thing for Beijing is that after the Games the people of the city will have a much more international outlook," Atul added.

To realize a green Olympics Beijing started in May to implement a ban on smoking in public areas - a step toward meeting requirements in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) by the WHO.

The new regulations clearly define non-smoking public venues and partly prohibited sites such as hotels, restaurants and training centers.

In order to assure the implementation of the new regulations, the Beijing Health Bureau also strengthened the enforcement powers in the smoking bans, according to bureau chief Jin Dapeng.

"Local health authorities have the right to punish smokers breaking the new regulations," Jin said.

The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing are the first Olympics held after the FCTC took affect in 2005. The Chinese government pledged to hold a "smoking-free Olympics, which not only refuses tobacco advertisements and patronage from tobacco companies, but also bans smoking in all competition venues.

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of cigarettes - nearly 2 trillion cigarettes are smoked in China every year.

Tax on cigarettes contributed 290 billion yuan to the government in 2006, up by 20 percent year-on-year.