When China moves against unhealthy practices – like smoking – it means business.
Some 95 per cent of Beijing businesses are now smoke-free after 40 months of enforcement of strict no-smoking regulations, a big improvement from June 2015 when the no-smoking policy was announced.
At that time, only 77 per cent of businesses that were supposed to be smoke-free complied with regulations.
Since then, monitors and enforcement staff have made more than 700,000 inspections, demanding nearly 20,000 businesses begin complying with the regulations and issuing fines of over 500,000 yuan (about $110,000).
Now research on e-cigarettes is under way to determine any negative impact and the feasibility of banning vaping in public areas, according to officials from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning.
The crackdown on smoking in workplaces comes after some estimates placed China as home to about 300 million smokers, more than any other country; about half of men were estimated to be regular smokers.
The World Health Organisation estimated late last year that a complete nationwide ban on smoking in the country's workplaces would reduce prevalence of smoking among Chinese men by 13m, averting 6m premature deaths.
Now local campaigns like that of Beijing have begun to turn the tide against workplace smoking, experts say. There has been a shift in attitudes, with greater opposition to smoking, driven by public health campaigns highlighting the risks of second-hand smoke, and by individual cities launching legislation aimed at reducing smoking indoors.
Beijing's tough 2015 anti-smoking legislation made smoking in offices, restaurants, hotels and hospitals punishable with fines. Businesses that fail to rein in smoking on their premises can be fined and repeat offenders can have their licences revoked. Individual smokers can be penalised $45.
Groups of smoking workers are now a common sight huddled outside office buildings in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai — the latter two cities having followed suit with similar laws in January and March this year.
Content sourced from the People's Daily Online here