Ban cigarette ads in all forms

THE STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL People's Congress is debating whether the Advertisement Law should be amended to ban all cigarette ads. Although the existing law bans all forms of cigarette ads in the media, it is not all pervasive because placards and posters promoting cigarettes can be displayed in restaurants and other public places. Some NPC Standing Committee members have proposed that the law be amended to ban all forms of cigarette ads, both indoors and outdoors.

Despite being scientifically proved that smoking is harmful to people's health, the number of smokers has been increasing in the country, with young people accounting for 12 percent of the total number of about 300 million smokers. Worse, more than 70 percent of non-smokers are exposed to second-hand smoke, which means Chinese smokers are either ignorant of or indifferent to the harm they inflict on other people.

Banning all forms of cigarette ads will help make smokers aware of the harm their smoking causes indirectly to the health of other people and thus save more people from the harms of second-hand smoke. Better still, it will help create an atmosphere where non-smokers can tell smokers not to smoke anywhere near them.