Law enforcers should be given power to stop smoking in public

A CONFERENCE VENUE run by China Tobacco Corporation in Beijing recently prevented law-enforcement officials from the capital's public health supervision bureau from entering the premises. This is the first case of its kind since Beijing implemented a strict tobacco-control law on June 1. Comments:

The incident raises doubts whether the anti-smoking law can be really implemented in Beijing. Although the tobacco-control team has dealt with 1,353 cases and imposed fines of more than 250,000 yuan (&41,000) over the past two months, the tobacco culture in Chinese society has yet to change for the better. Compared with more than 300 million people in China who smoke, the tobacco-control office appears weak. The anti-smoking regulation reflects people's will to curb smoking but does not give enough power to the law enforcers to implement it. The government has tried many times before to ban smoking in public places. If it does not take some concrete measures, it will not be different this time.

Xinhuanet.com, Aug 6