Guangzhou is considering drafting a law that reduces the number
of public areas where smokers will be allowed to light up.
The Guangzhou Smoking Control Association, the Guangzhou
Lawyers' Association and the Guangzhou Medical, Health and Science
Popularization Association said they hope the new legislation will
ban smoking in public places such as offices, schools, hospitals,
museums, cinemas, elevators and taxis.
They also hope the law will require non-smoking sections in
places like restaurants, karaoke bars and waiting halls at railway
stations in the capital of south China's Guangdong Province.
A law of the same nature was passed in Shenzhen, another
Guangdong city, in 1998.
The municipal justice bureau has put the legislation on its
agenda and a team is being formed to guide it through the
process.
Huang Benjia, secretary-general of the Guangdong Smoking Control
Association, said a law should be more effective in enforcing
anti-smoking practices than the mere notice released by the
Guangzhou government in 1995.
Banning smoking in places such as buses and large meeting areas
has been largely effective in Guangzhou, Huang said.
Cities in Guangdong and eight other provinces banned outdoor
tobacco advertisements last year, and four more in Guangdong have
applied since then, he said.
Educating adolescents is the key in reducing the smoking
population, Huang said, citing a survey conducted last year that
found 15 percent of middle school students in Guangzhou had at
least tried smoking.
(China Daily May 30, 2006)