Gov still limping on anti-tobacco promise

By Han Manman

Half-hearted efforts to curb tobacco use have failed to deter the nation’s 300 million smokers.

With no legislation and a century-strong tradition of tobacco use, few people are willing to change their habits, according to a report released by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Tuesday.

The country once committed itself to banning smoking in indoor venues by January 9 next year, part of a WHO-backed global anti-tobacco treaty, but local experts say the government is likely to blow that deadline.

A survey of 13,000 people earlier this year found no significant decrease in the smoking rate since 2002, the CDC reported.

The survey found that over half of all Chinese men smoked, compared to 2.4 percent of women. Most of the country’s 301 million adult smokers started before age 20, and over 72 percent of nonsmokers are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke.

The survey also found that only one quarter of those polled believed that smoking tobacco increased the risk of cancer.

Though China pledged to make indoor public spaces, workplaces and public transportation smoke-free by early next year, 63 percent of those surveyed said they had seen people smoking in public places or at work during the last 30 days.

“There has been no substantial improvement in the smoking rate or exposure to secondhand smoke,” said Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of the CDC.

But the government has put in some effort.

During the past several years, it banned tobacco advertisements from radio, television and newspapers, and outlawed smoking on airplanes.

 This May, it also banned smoking at the Ministry of Health’s own 19-story office building in Beijing, the first central government agency to prohibit indoor smoking.

Weeks ago, authorities also instructed kindergartens and elementary, secondary and vocational schools to ban smoking on campus and ban teachers from lighting up in front of students.

But authorities are losing the fight against a habit that penetrates every corner of society. Half of all male doctors smoke, tobacco companies sponsor schools and one wedding dinner ritual requires the bride to light cigarettes for each male guest.

With no national-level legislation to punish people who smoke in public spaces, the government ban is meaningless, experts said.

But Nanchang may become a role model in a nation otherwise comfortable with this failure. A new draft law may make it the first city to have local legislation banning smoking in public venues and workplaces.

Yang said the draft will be submitted to the country’s legislative department for approval. The draft would guarantee 100-percent smoke-free public venues and workplaces by using punishment to enforce the ban.

He said the country is not yet ready to pass legislation at the national legislation, and that upper government is leaving the initial push up to each locality.

“When local governments and legislatures support a smoking ban, then people will finally be able to enjoy a smoke-free environment,” he said.