Doctors should kick the habit

Guess what, more than half of our male doctors are smokers.

A survey found that there are 350 million puffers on the Chinese mainland and more than 1 million people die of tobacco-related diseases every year. It is reported that 70 percent of people who quit smoking do so on their doctors' suggestion. So doctors are supposed to be the best source of support for smokers to quit the bad habit - their advice on healthy lifestyles should be nothing but convincing.

However, some of doctors are bad role models. Last week's national conference on respiratory diseases in Xi'an, Shaanxi province engaged doctors in tobacco control. More than 2,000 respiratory doctors promised to quit smoking.