60% of Travelers Support Removing Smoking Rooms in Transport Hubs

Today, a seminar on promoting national tobacco control legislation organized by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention was held in Beijing. According to a reporter from the Legal Daily, a survey found that over 60% of travelers support the current smoking control measures in public transport areas, but there is still room for improvement; the support rate for removing smoking rooms is high, with both smokers and non-smokers supporting it at over 60%.

Yang Jie, a researcher at the Tobacco Control Office of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Legal Daily that China is the world's largest producer and consumer of tobacco products, with 316 million smokers. More than one million people die each year from tobacco-related diseases, including about 100,000 deaths from secondhand smoke. Research conducted by Oxford University, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that if no active measures are taken, one-third of young men in China will eventually die from tobacco-related diseases.

Professor Zheng Pinpin from Fudan University's Health Communication Research Institute stated that tobacco smoke contains over 7,000 chemical substances, of which at least 69 are carcinogenic. Exposure to secondhand smoke can lead to various diseases, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. According to monitoring results from Shanghai, the current secondhand smoke exposure rate among adults over 18 in the city is 41.1%, with half of teenagers exposed to secondhand smoke.

The reporter noted that many studies abroad have proven that setting up smoking rooms and designated smoking areas cannot completely isolate secondhand smoke. Establishing smoking rooms does not comply with the FCTC regulations.

"Smoking rooms cannot isolate secondhand smoke and cannot protect the health of non-smokers. The concentration of environmental smoke outside the smoking room remains at a high level within 5 meters; smoking rooms pose greater harm to smokers inside. The PM2.5 concentration inside smoking rooms can reach 30 times the national 24-hour PM2.5 concentration limit and 180 times the outdoor PM2.5 concentration," Zheng Pinpin said.

The survey results also showed that among non-smoking respondents, 73.7% indicated they would intentionally avoid smoking rooms while waiting for transport; among smoking respondents, 81.3% reported having used smoking rooms at airports and stations. Regarding their impressions of smoking rooms, 54.1% of smokers who had used them said, "the smoke was very heavy and felt choking," while only 9.4% said they felt "very comfortable," with the remaining 36.5% describing their experience as "average."

The reporter noted that the "2015 China Adult Tobacco Survey Report" released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that the adult smoking rate remained unchanged at 27.7% from 2010 to 2015, with an increase of 15 million smokers over five years.

Yang Jie informed the reporter that as of May 31, 2016, 16 major cities, including Beijing, Hangzhou, Yinchuan, Anshan, Qingdao, and Xining, had implemented regulations or rules to control smoking in public places.

Yang Jie believes that the legislation for smoke-free environments has made positive progress, providing a reference model for the effective implementation of national tobacco control legislation. Without increasing staffing, a law enforcement team that aligns with China's national conditions has been established, forming a new mechanism and model for tobacco control enforcement. Enforcement plans, guidelines, or detailed documents have been developed to ensure enforcement from responsibilities, systems, and technical aspects, providing technical guidance for the effective implementation of national tobacco control regulations. Meanwhile, urban tobacco control enforcement has achieved positive results.

Yang Jie cited an example: a year after the implementation of Beijing's tobacco control regulations, an undercover investigation of certain venues showed a comprehensive evaluation score of 79.12, with 71.3% of the inspected indoor venues showing no smoking; no tobacco advertisements were found during this investigation.

In Yang Jie's view, the regulations should clearly state a comprehensive smoking ban in indoor public places, indoor workplaces, public transport vehicles, and their waiting areas; exceptions should not be made for workplaces, nor should loopholes be created for single offices. The government should increase funding and personnel investment in tobacco control efforts.

Representatives from 16 legislative cities, including Tianjin, Lanzhou, and Qingdao, called for the establishment of the "Public Places Smoking Control Regulations" to adhere to the spirit of the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control at the meeting.

This report is from Beijing on September 23.