In Beijing, smokers still rule the roost

It's time to clear the air, literally, on a very serious issue that's not taken seriously enough.

Why, oh why, is Beijing's smoking ban so poorly enforced?

The ban, in effect since June, has been called China's toughest ever. It's also trumpeted as blazing a trail for the rest of the country, where, according to a recent World Health Organization report, 740 million nonsmokers are exposed each day to secondhand smoke.