Law should ban smoking in public places

IN ITS PANEL DISCUSSION on the draft of the Promotion Law on Basic Medical Treatment and Public Health being reviewed by the legislature, experts of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control suggested changing "smoking in public places should be controlled" to "smoking in indoor public places, indoor work places and public transport must be banned". Legal Daily comments:

The suggested revision is not only reasonable but also urgently needed, as China has not made breakthroughs in its tobacco control since it signed the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003 - the country's smoking rate has remained largely unchanged at about 27 percent, and 740 million people suffer from secondhand smoke. It is estimated at least 1 million people die of diseases related to smoking in China each year.

Last month, the China Tobacco Corporation urged its local branches to try to fulfill the annual sales objective of 47.38 million boxes of cigarettes - each box contains 50,000 cigarettes, which has remained stable, if not slightly increased, over these years. The fight against tobacco use has always been an uphill battle as the State-owned industry has a strong say over any efforts that might affect its business, for it is a reliable source of government revenue and a large job creator.