Smoking ban in China, Asia

[GS Zhou]

The Chinese trains and stations I have seen are some of the best. However even in Shanghai there seems to be an excessive number of smokers.

you are right, still many smokers.

But the good news is the smoking penetration is decreasing. In my father's generation, almost all males smoke; but in my generation, the smoking rate declined to about 30%.

It's just my personal observation, maybe not accurate enough.

 

[anon45]

starting to see a pattern here now. ban drugs, ban cigarettes, ban alcohol?, ban sugary drinks and food?. this would not only improve peoples lives but save billions of dollars, but pretty sure people would revolt.


can you imagine a President (dictator) doing that in the States?? killing drug dealers/traffickers, banning cigarettes, alcohol, and unhealthy food.

long term this would be revolutionary

Well the short term experience with alcohol, it really improved the coffers of organized crime

 

[AndrewJin]

you are right, still many smokers.

But the good news is the smoking penetration is decreasing. In my father's generation, almost all males smoke; but in my generation, the smoking rate declined to about 30%.

It's just my personal observation, maybe not accurate enough.

Nearly zero in my class in college.

 

[DRDO KALI 10000]

I hope to replicate it in India as well......

 

[Russell]

@C130 someone's forgotten about the prohibition of alcohol in the US from 1920 to the mid 30s.

@anon45 knows what I'm talking about!

Doesn't done by a dictator, but led by Christian fundamentalists....Was a wonderful thing, drove everything underground, helped make ppl like Capone lolol

Tbf, banning smoking in public places is fair enough...you have the right to smoke, but others have the right not to be affected by second hand smoking.

 

[SBUS-CXK]

The Chinese trains and stations I have seen are some of the best. However even in Shanghai there seems to be an excessive number of smokers.

Chinese students have a lot of people to smoke, even junior high school students. Chinese people like through the smoke to relieve pressure.

But in HSR smoking is no good. HSR is enclosed compartment, rely heavily on air circulation system. So if the HSR smoking there are two problems. 1, the problem of air. 2, the security issues.

 

[Dakila]

Good job Mr President

 

[C130]

Well the short term experience with alcohol, it really improved the coffers of organized crime

@C130 someone's forgotten about the prohibition of alcohol in the US from 1920 to the mid 30s.

@anon45 knows what I'm talking about!

Doesn't done by a dictator, but led by Christian fundamentalists....Was a wonderful thing, drove everything underground, helped make ppl like Capone lolol

Tbf, banning smoking in public places is fair enough...you have the right to smoke, but others have the right not to be affected by second hand smoking.

if Duterte is killing drug dealers wouldn't that mean he would also kill alcohol smugglers as well??

the guy is crazy

 

[lcloo]

From Manila,

6. How much is the penalty for violating the No Smoking Policy?

• Legal Basis: RA 9211 and WHO-Framework
  • 1st offense: Php 500 - Php 1,000; or 8-hour community service
  • 2nd offense: Php 1,000 - Php 5,000; or 16-hour community service
  • 3rd offense: Php 5,000 - Php 10,000 and cancellation/revocation of franchise or business permit.

 

[ahojunk]

E-cigs linked to high risk of heavy teen cigarette smoking: study
2016-11-09 08:45 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e

Teenagers who use e-cigarettes regularly are more likely to become frequent and heavy cigarette smokers, a U.S. study suggested Tuesday.

About one third of teens in the U.S. have tried vaping and some adolescents use e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid. But in recent years, scientists have debated whether e-cigarettes help smokers quit, or act as a gateway to tobacco smoking.

The new study, published in the U.S. journal JAMA, surveyed more than 3,000 15-year-old students in Los Angeles County twice, during the fall 2014 and spring 2015 semesters respectively, asking how often they had vaped or smoked in the previous 30 days.

Overall, the prevalence of vaping and smoking was low.

But of those who were frequent vapers at the beginning of the study, defined by as having vaped three or more days in the past month, 11.6 percent smoked at least one day a month while 19.9 percent became frequent smokers six months later.

In contrast, of those who never vaped at the beginning of the study, only 0.9 percent were occasional smokers while 0.7 percent became frequent smokers six months later.

"In this study of adolescents, vaping more frequently was associated with a higher risk of more frequent and heavy smoking six months later," Adam Leventhal from the University of Southern California and colleagues wrote in their paper. "The transition from vaping to smoking may warrant particular attention in tobacco control policy."

Other experts, however, said the study cannot prove there is a causal link between vaping and smoking.

"This study is investigating the gateway hypothesis. In practice, it is almost impossible to properly test this hypothesis," Professor Paul Aveyard of the University of Oxford said in a statement, adding "showing that one behaviour precedes another is not enough."

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I am all for banning this damn thing.
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[ahojunk]

Shanghai to tighten smoking control
2016-11-12 10:15 | Xinhua | Editor: Li Yan


Shanghai will implement stricter tobacco control rules, banning smoking in all indoor public places, workplaces and public transport from March 2017.

The Standing Committee of the Shanghai People's Congress, the local legislature, on Friday passed an amendment to existing smoking control regulations that took effect six years ago.

While the existing version allows designated areas for smokers in indoor areas of hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, as well as airports, train and port stations, the amendment closes such loopholes.

In addition, smoking will be prohibited in outdoors at certain public venues visited by children, including schools, after-school educational institutions and children's hospitals. Outdoor auditoriums in stadiums are also subject to the ban.

China has 316 million smokers, with another 740 million exposed to second-hand smoke. In 2015, about 733,000 Chinese were diagnosed with smoking-related lung cancer.

At least 16 Chinese cities, including Beijing, have passed their own tobacco control rules.


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This is music to my ears.
.

 

[TaiShang]

This should go nationwide. I would even propose establishing a supra-body to oversight and enforce the law nationally with enough powers to propose science-based new rules.

In fighting smoking (and alcohol), the entertainment (TV-Radio-Internet) aspect of it also should not be ruled out.

Obviously, it is gonna be a tougher battle in Mainland China -- perhaps more difficult than anti-corruption drive.

Public smoking ban to go nationwide
Shanghai Daily, November 23, 2016

China is to issue a new anti-smoking regulation by the end of the year, a senior official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission said yesterday.

Public smoking ban to go nationwide

The regulation, which will control smoking in public nationwide, is undergoing the legislative process, Mao Qun'an, head of the commission's publicity department, told a press conference at the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion in Shanghai.

"Strictly controlling smoking in public places in a legal way is a promotion for health," Mao said. "That smoking harms health has become a global consensus."

According to a draft, smoking will be prohibited at all indoor public venues, workplaces and public transport, as well as outdoor areas that include primary schools, kindergartens, children's training institutes, historic sites, children's hospitals and stadiums. Violations by individuals will incur fines of up to 500 yuan (US$73), while companies that breach the rule face fines up to 30,000 yuan and the loss of their business license.

Mao said almost 20 Chinese cities had already drawn up no-smoking rules, including Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou.

He said the biggest obstacle to the regulation, first published as a draft in 2014, had been the public's lack of awareness about the harm smoking causes.

The Chinese Association on Tobacco Control estimates there are some 316 million smokers in the country, with about 1.5 million Chinese dying every year from tobacco-related diseases.

Stamping out smoking in China has always been difficult, with the practice traditionally considered sociable and a symbol of friendship. In addition, compared to many Western countries, cigarettes are relatively cheap and widely available.

"The Chinese government will enhance publicity on the harm of tobacco, make legislation and carry out tax and price reforms on tobacco products to meet the requirements of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control," Mao said.

WHO chief Margaret Chan hailed China's ever-strengthening anti-tobacco efforts, saying she expects to see more progress in the right direction.

"China has done well" in tightening tobacco control, the WHO director-general said.

Tobacco kills 6 million people every year, she said, quoting WHO figures. "These are avoidable deaths. It's a tragedy that we don't prevent smoking from causing death and devastation on health."

She said China "is moving at the right direction, doing well, but needs to do more."

Chan encouraged the more than 100 mayors attending the conference to introduce regulatory or fiscal measures, such as increased taxes, a ban on tobacco adverts on television and in print media, and the end of tobacco sponsorship of sports events.

She lauded the Chinese leadership's call for full protection of the people's health, which stressed that public health should be given priority in the country's development strategy.

Beijing, home to more than 4 million smokers, rolled out what has been deemed the "strictest smoking ban in history" on June 1, 2015, prohibiting smoking in indoor public places, workplaces and on public transport.

This month, Shanghai also amended its regulations to ban smoking in public indoor and outdoor areas. The new rules come into effect in March next year.

"We are delighted with the adoption of this new law," Dr Bernhard Schwartlander, the WHO's representative in China, said yesterday. "Shanghai will be protecting non-smokers from the deadly harm of second-hand smoke."

 

[ahojunk]

What will it take to get China’s 350 million smokers to quit? Public bans, tax hikes on the cards

Promised smoking ban welcome but Margaret Chan urges city mayors to also curb tobacco marketing

Alice Yan, SCMP
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 23 November, 2016, 8:00am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 23 November, 2016, 9:44am

A worker stands on a scaffold in front of a giant poster for World No Tobacco Day in Beijing on May 31. Photo: AFP


China has not done enough to control smoking even though the mainland authorities plan to put a smoking ban into effect within this year, said World Health Organisation Director-General Margaret Chan.

“Tobacco control is very close to my heart and a very important subject for the World Health Organisation,” Chan said at a meeting on the sidelines of the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion in Shanghai. “The WHO’s member states have developed and adopted the WHO framework convention on tobacco control.”

The world’s largest tobacco market, with 350 million smokers, China has not yet passed a national law to ban smoking in public places. Of more than 600 cities across the country, only 18 have passed their own smoking control regulations.

“I used to say to Chinese officials that you have done well but not enough and there is room for further improvement,” Chan said. “I look forward to seeing the progress of China’s national tobacco control law.”

Mao Qunan, spokesman for the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China’s health authority, said a national law is expected to go into effect within this year.

Chan said she encouraged dozens of mainland city mayors who were attending the conference to introduce regulatory or fiscal measures to prevent the marketing of tobacco products and to stop tobacco sponsorships of sports events.

Mao said the biggest obstacle in the legislation was that the public did not have adequate awareness of the dangers from smoking.

“The Chinese government is beefing up an awareness campaign on smoking control, making laws and reforming the tobacco tax and price system to honour our commitment to the WHO’s framework convention on smoking control,” he said.

The mainland’s tax reform on tobacco products, which began seven years ago, has met strong resistance from tobacco producers and cigarettes sold on the mainland are still among the cheapest in the world, Wu Yiqun, a Beijing-based smoking control campaigner, told the Economic Observer.

The official said that health promotion work, such as smoking control, needed multisector collaboration. “Without support and involvement from other departments, many of our tasks can’t be achieved,” he said.

Smoking 'too easy' in China, says WHO, and even smokers agree

A Shanghai Declaration on Health Promotion was released at the conference, urging governments across the world to integrate health into their sustainable development agenda.

For a long time, the mainland has been lacklustre in global health rankings for allocating only 5-6 per cent of its gross domestic product to health services. Premier Li Keqiang, in his keynote speech at the conference on Monday, said China’s spending on health services has been increasing year by year over the past few years. He did not give specific figures.

“We will put health in a strategic position and regard it as a priority task. In our development mindset, we should prioritise health and emphasise health goals in our economic and social planning,” Li said. “Public policies should favour health goals and fiscal spending should guarantee the development of health-related causes.”

 

[ahojunk]

Smoking costs world economy over $1 trln annually: report
2017-01-12 09:50 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e

Smoking costs not only lives, but also more than 1 trillion U.S. dollars annually, according to a newly published report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

The global report, published in The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control, found that the tobacco industry and the deadly impact of its products cost the world's economies more than 1 trillion dollars annually in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity.

The findings also pointed out that currently around 6 million people die annually as a result of tobacco use, with most living in developing countries.

"The economic impact of tobacco on countries, and the general public, is huge, as this new report shows," said Oleg Chestnov, WHO's assistant director-general for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health.

Researchers noted in the report that tobacco control will have only a modest impact on tobacco-related employment, and will not lead to net job losses.

To save lives, the WHO recommended a list of measures, including increasing taxes and prices on tobacco products and restricting marketing efforts.

According to the organization, globally there are 1.1 billion tobacco smokers aged 15 or older, with around 80 percent living in low- and middle-income countries.

 

[ahojunk]

National tobacco control law described as priority
2017-01-12 09:52 | China Daily | Editor: Feng Shuang

Children wearing gas masks hold anti-smoking signs to call on their parents to quit smoking
at an event in Hangzhou on May 29, 2016.Lian Guoqing / For China Daily


It is estimated that about 10 percent of the entire population of China - the world's biggest tobacco consuming country, with more than 300 million smokers - now have legal protection against secondhand smoke due to tobacco control regulations, according to a new report.

The report, "A Civil Society Perspective on Tobacco Control in China 2016", was published on Tuesday by ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development, one of the country's most outspoken NGOs committed to tobacco control.

To date, only three Chinese cities - Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen - have introduced thorough smoking bans in public places, while some smaller cities have local laws on tobacco control.

"That's far from enough and a national tobacco control law is imperative to provide a legal basis for fighting, in particular, passive smoking," said Wu Yiqun, deputy director of ThinkTank.

Beijing introduced its tobacco control law in June 2015, which banned smoking in all public places such as workplaces, schools, hospitals and airports.

The report said that since the implementation of the law, the number of smokers in the capital has fallen by 200,000, citing figures from surveys by local health administrations.

Wang Benjin, an inspector at Beijing Health Inspection Institute, said tobacco control has been improved due to the law.

By the end of 2016, Wang and his colleagues had issued more than 3,000 tickets, totaling 2 million yuan ($288,800), to organizations and individuals for violations.

WHO China Representative Bernhard Schwartlander praised Beijing for its tobacco control law, but added that "the fight (against smoking) is far from over".

Implementing a national law is a top priority for 2017, Schwartlander said.

In November, National Health and Family Planning Commission spokesman Mao Qun'an said a national law would be implemented by the end of the year, but it wasn't.

"A national law is urgently needed to help raise the overall awareness of tobacco control," said Jiang Yuan, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention's tobacco control office.

In China, more than 1 million people die from smoking-related diseases each year, and a lack of intervention would likely see the figure increase to 3 million by 2050, the report said.

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