Children in a primary school in Hefei, Anhui Province call on people to give up smoking

Vivi, (not his real name), is a magazine editor in Beijing. He likes everything about the job, except the office environment. "I love my job but I just cannot stand the smoke in my office. When I go home after work every day, my clothes reek of smoke," the father of two kids complained.

He tried talking to his chain-smoking colleague about the problem but hit a brick wall. "I have tried to quit smoking many times, but failed," the colleague admitted, declining to give his name. "I know it's not good to smoke inside the office, so I try to use the smoking areas of the building. But when I am very busy, I have no choice but to smoke inside. Actually, I have cut down on the habit though."

When his colleague lit up inside the office, Vivi would leave the room in desperation. He even thought about changing job. But now he has a reprieve.

The Regulations of Beijing on Tobacco Control, which came into effect on June 1, takes care of Vivi's worries about his office environment. Compared with previous smoking-control regulations, this statute brings stricter measures to control smoking and harsher punishments for those who flout them. It has made Vivi abandon the idea of looking for another job, at least for now. "If only the statute is strictly implemented," he sighed.

The new tougher measures not only put the squeeze on smokers' cravings but on their wallets as well. In May, most cigarette brands increased prices by about 10 percent due to the government's hike in the ad-valorem wholesale cigarette tax rate from 5 percent to 11 percent. This means smokers like Vivi's colleague will have to fork out about 1,000 yuan ($161) more on cigarettes every year.

No smoking under roofs

The statute comes after the State Council, China's cabinet, issued a similar national regulation late last year. It has expanded the areas where people cannot smoke. Smoking is now forbidden in all public places, indoor areas of workplaces, and on public transport. Experts interpret it to mean that smoking is now forbidden in all places with roofs.

Even smoking areas and rooms, allowed in public places earlier, have been banned. It means smokers cannot smoke in any area of a building. On June 1, Beijing's Capital International Airport also closed all the smoking rooms in its three terminals. Smokers have to now go out of the terminals to smoke.

More importantly, the punishment for violators is more severe. People who smoke in public places will be fined up to 200 yuan ($32). Organizations that still have indoor smoking areas or rooms will be fined up to 10,000 yuan ($1,613).

"[Adults] can smoke if they choose to, but they should not smoke anywhere they wish to as the second-hand smoke can affect others' health," said Xu Guihua, Executive Vice President of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control. "Tough measures must be taken to say no to the bad habit [of smoking in public places]."

The smoking control measures have been welcomed by the public. According to a survey by the Legal Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission, and Beijing Patriotic Health Campaign Committee, more than 90 percent of the respondents, 24.5 percent of whom are smokers, support the statute. 

Statutory warnings

Statistics show that China has more than 300 million smokers; about 740 million people are exposed to second-hand smoke, including 180 million children. Owing to the long history of smoking in China, the habit is entrenched across the country, especially in rural areas, where people offer cigarettes as a form of greeting. To keep people away from tobacco has become an urgent task.

Another factor attracting smokers is the beautiful cigarette packs. Unlike the packs in many other countries, which carry statutory warnings about the adverse effects of smoking and graphic images, those in China are well designed with artistic images. The warnings are usually in fine print and have little impact on smokers.

This backdrop puts children at risk constantly. A recent survey among children shows that as many as 86 percent are aware of at least one cigarette brand, and 22 percent think smoking is "cool," saying they will smoke when they grow up.

To address this problem, the new statute stipulates that the warning should cover more than half the cigarette pack.

"Increasing the size of the warning sign on the pack is a good and cost-effective way to not only persuade smokers to give up smoking, but also prevent others from starting to smoke," said Xu. "The next step is to get cigarette manufacturers [to design the packs] accordingly."  

Powerful lobby

"The government has been trying various measures to ban smoking in public places for years. But it is not an easy task," said Xiao Dan, a senior doctor with the Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital.

Since China became a party to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2006, the Chinese Government has taken a series of measures to ban smoking in public places but with little effect.

"One of the greatest points of resistance is interference by China's strong tobacco industry," wrote Yang Gonghuan, Deputy Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and veteran smoking control activist, in an article in The Lancet, the Britain-based medical journal.

Yang said China's tobacco industry is powerful enough to impede government efforts to ban smoking. China is the world's largest cigarette producer and consumer. The China National Tobacco Corp. (CNTC), the biggest cigarette maker in the world, made 2.5 trillion cigarettes in 2013, far more than American multinational Philip Morris, the second largest producer, which produced 880 billion. Every year, tobacco sales contribute 7 percent of China's tax revenue.

A loophole allows China's tobacco industry to circumvent the tobacco control mechanism. According to the Convention on Tobacco Control, in setting and implementing public health policies with respect to tobacco control, the parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law. But China's Inter-ministerial Coordination Group on Tobacco Control has the CNTC as a member.

"This is one of the important reasons that many smoking control measures cannot be effectively implemented," said Yang. "Against this background, a strong government leadership is very important to ensure the effective implementation of the statute."

Xiao suggests the government should first launch a large-scale public education campaign on the harms caused by tobacco, especially in the rural areas, so as to develop a nationwide anti-smoking environment. In addition, effective laws are needed.

"The statute should not be a rubber stamp, but should be strictly implemented," said Xu. "Only after all smokers know where they can smoke and where they cannot, can the public breathe fresh air freely."