The trend of smoking among young people prompts action by city

Beijing will prepare a new city rules for strengthening compliance with the existing ban on smoking at the time, when new statistics show a high tendency among adolescents to try tobacco.

Health experts say that the current ban on smoking in Beijing lacks teeth because of poor performance.

“The ban on smoking in public places issued by the Ministry of Health in May, practice had no effect, because there is no specific penalties for people who smoke and violate the ban,” said Suo Chao, speaking on behalf of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, which recently conducted a Survey on smoking approximately 40,000 students throughout China.

According to a survey the association, 15.8 per cent of pupils are regular smokers, while 22.5 percent would consider trying it.

Teens from 12 to 14 are especially vulnerable. More than 26 percent of them are willing to try, Suo said.

It is important to control the types of impacts they face, said Huang Jiefu, Deputy Minister of Health, during the launch smoke-free schools pilot project in Beijing on Thursday

“It’s important for us to take some measures to ensure that they are smoke-free environment and liberate them from tobacco,” said Huang.

The sooner people choose to smoke, the less likely they are to quit smoking in the future, as well as minors who have a poor sense of self-control are likely to be tempted by cigarettes than adults, Huang said.

As the largest producer and consumer of tobacco in the world, China has more than 300 million smokers, and 740 million exposed to secondhand smoke. About 1.2 million Chinese die from tobacco-related diseases every year, he added.

“When teens see adults around them smoke, teachers or school staff, they could do it too,” said Liu Changming, director of Beijing’s high school number 4. “It is important to ensure that they are smoking at school, through advertising or rules.”

Tobacco will be long-term goal, said Suo.

The new smoking ban will be recorded in the municipal regulations of the city to strengthen the anti-smoking efforts of the capital.

New measures to prohibit smoking in the legislative agenda and will be aimed at strengthening the authorities, said Zhang Yin, Director of the Legal Bureau of the Congress of Beijing Municipal People.

If new rules are adopted, the rules binding current smoking ban, which is not very well in life, will be canceled, said Zhang.

The experts also gave suggestions on how best to enforce the law.

Ying Songnian, an administrative law professor at China University of Political Science and Law who led the research, said more smoke-free zones should be written to the new rules in the legislature.

“An effective means to stop smokers to appoint staff who are directly responsible for the supervision of smoking in the workplace,” said Yin.

For example, a restaurant may choose a waiter or waitress to stop customers who violate the rules. If smokers refuse to stop, people can report them to local health and environmental agencies, the Institute said.

Feng Yongfeng, the founder of the environmental protection NGOs in the capital and also suggested that the health or environmental departments form a hotline to receive smoking-related reports from the public.

“Implementation requires the efforts of all in the city, not just the government,” he said

“In addition, the restaurants, you can also install devices that detect the indoor air quality control more transparent.”

However, Zhang said that they were still discussing the proposal of experts, and he refused to give more details about the new regulation

According to the World Health Organization, there are 1250000000 smokers around the world. About 6 million die from tobacco-related diseases every year, and this figure will grow to 8 million in 2030, if the trend continues at a pace.