Experts: The Time Is Ripe for Nationwide Tobacco Control Legislation

[Introduction] Faced with more than 4 million local smokers in Beijing and imported smokers from all over the world, Beijing has a long way to go to control tobacco. "News 1+1" today's focus: Beijing's tobacco control is the strictest on paper! The following is a written record

Commentary:

Faced with more than 4 million local smokers in Beijing and imported smokers from all over the world, Beijing has a long way to go to control tobacco. "News 1+1" today's focus: Beijing's tobacco control is the strictest on paper!

Commentator Bai Yansong:

Hello, viewers, welcome to the live broadcast of "News 1+1".

Today is June 1st Children's Day. First of all, we must wish all children a happy holiday. But at this point, the children should be asleep. Let's focus on what kind of holiday gifts adults should give their children. So today Beijing chose to give a gift to its children. What kind of gift? Let's look at two photos first.

Let's take a look at the first photo. Another landmark building in Beijing, the Bird's Nest, is covered with signs saying no smoking. In fact, such a big sign hanging here also reminds many foreign tourists coming to Beijing that Beijing will implement the strictest tobacco control measures starting from June 1. This is a photo.

Let's take a look at the next one. We have heard of the smoke of Humen before, but we can't figure out which door it is Qianmen, Desheng Gate, Chongwen Gate, or which door it is. The restaurant is smashing ashtrays. Why? Because I won't need it anymore. Judging from the action of smashing the ashtray, it is a bit wasteful, but it is worth it from the effect of this photo on smoking control. Why smash the ashtray? Because starting today, Beijing City will implement the strictest such tobacco control, which is called the strictest in history. Simply put, as long as there is a roof and a cover, no smoking is allowed underneath.

Okay, can this strictest thing in history really achieve it? Will it eventually become the strictest on paper?

Commentary:

Two cigarette butts were found in the toilet wastebasket; there were no complaint and report numbers on the non-smoking sign. Today, a store of Beijing's well-known Haidilao restaurant was issued with a notice of ordering correction, which was claimed by the media to be the first rectification notice issued on the first day of implementation of Beijing's Tobacco Control Regulations.

Liu Ying, Deputy Chief of the Public Places Health Supervision Section of the Beijing City Health Supervision Institute:

When smoke stains were found in the bathroom, we asked and reminded them to strengthen dissuasion, including training for personnel to post anti-smoking signs and warnings in prominent places in the bathroom. If we rectify it immediately, we will definitely conduct a review as soon as possible.

Commentary:

After receiving this notice of ordering correction, Haidilao store must immediately rectify. If it fails to pass the review within a day or two, the store will face a fine of at least 2000 yuan.

Mr. Wang, head of Baijiazhuang Store of Beijing Haidilao Restaurant:

He didn't understand much about some guests, especially some young people, and some guests who had drunk still strongly wanted to smoke. In this case, we could only guide the guests to smoke outside. We now remind guests that if they strongly want to smoke, we will call and complain.

Commentary:

Today, Beijing's Tobacco Control Regulations, known as the strictest in history, were officially implemented, with a total of 30 regulations. It stipulates that smoking is prohibited in indoor areas of public places, workplaces and public transportation, and smoking is also prohibited in outdoor areas including kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, cultural relics protection units, stadiums, and children's hospitals.

Now that the ban is in place, how about implementation on the first day? Today, the Beijing City multi-department joint inspection team conducted surprise inspections on a number of units, with restaurants, hospitals and other places including Haidilao being the focus of inspections.

Wang Benjin, deputy director of Beijing City Health Supervision Institute:

This is just a trash can, but we can't identify this as a smoking set. (Chaoyang Hospital) It used to be a smoke-free hospital, so its systems in all aspects are very sound. But here I found that the tobacco control sign lacks a complaint and report phone number, and we will raise this with it.

Commentary:

The inspection team found that there was a problem with the tobacco control signs at Chaoyang Hospital. At the Capital Institute of Pediatrics, tens of thousands of family members of patients enter and exit the hospital every day, making it difficult to control tobacco.

Security guard of the Capital Institute of Pediatrics:

If you see someone smoking, go over and let him know. Smoking is now prohibited in the hospital area.

Fang Laiying, Director of the Beijing City Health and Family Planning Commission:

Other places are indoors, and the Children's Hospital is inside the wall. There is no concept of a smoking area at all. Smoking is not allowed here, so they will feel that the task is very heavy. The most important thing is how to guide and dissuade the patient's family members. If the children's hospital cannot do this, we will still punish them.# p#pagination title #e#

Commentary:

Just today, airports, buses, and subways have all taken comprehensive tobacco control measures. The Capital Airport has closed all smoking rooms in three terminals, and more than 600 bus stations have designated open-air smoking areas. Starting today, more than 1000 health supervision and law enforcement personnel will be dispatched at both urban and municipal levels in Beijing to conduct centralized supervision and inspection of key units such as party and government agencies, hospitals, and schools for three days.

Zhang Jianshu, president of the Beijing Smoking Control Association:

We have now launched three signs to dissuade smoking for the public to vote. Hang this non-smoking sign in a prominent position in your room.

Commentary:

Now that the regulations are in place, how can the effects be guaranteed? According to regulations, individuals who violate tobacco control regulations will be fined 50 yuan or 200 yuan; penalties for units, companies and business premises range from 5000 yuan to 10000 yuan. What is everyone's attitude towards these?

Citizen:

Support, I find it a bit difficult to implement.

Citizen:

I think this difficulty is relatively large. I think there are still many people who smoke.

Bai Yansong:

Today, Haidilao was investigated and has become news reported by many media. Must it be the worst in tobacco control? No, there is still a lot worse than it, but it was lucky enough to win the big prize. Of course, it needs to be added in quotation marks, which means it was spot checked. In fact, this random inspection was also a reminder to Haidilao and all other restaurants and indoor venues.

In fact, Beijing's implementation of strict tobacco control has not officially begun today. It has been a long time since it has been implemented step by step. Let's see that smoking was banned in public places in 1995; on May 1, 2008, the "Several Provisions on the Scope of Smoking Prohibition in Public Places in Beijing" is obviously closely related to the Beijing Olympic Games to be held on August 8, 2008. Then this year, everyone thought that June 1 was the strictest tobacco control in history. Why? Where is it reflected? Reflected in these three aspects, the first smoking ban has the strictest scope, with roofs and covers, and includes children's hospitals that are not allowed to smoke; the implementation responsibility is the strictest, and you know who to check; the ban on sales is the strictest, for example, Don't let me see smoke 100 meters away from the school, because it cannot cause such harm to teenagers.

Okay, facing the strictest situation in history, let's take a look at a number. The current number of smokers in Beijing is 4.19 million. If this 4.19 million alone is not too large at first glance, it is also the real harm caused by 10 million people who smoke second-hand smoke. In other words, if you smoke yourself, it will harm your health, and it will also harm the health of people who smoke second-hand smoke twice. nbsp;

Okay, with this strictest tobacco control order in place, let's see what everyone's attitude is. Consciously abiding by the regulations will not attract 74%, or more than two-thirds. If you want to smoke, you will not be affected by 16%. This is fierce. Whether the supervision is strict or not depends on the situation, just like someone driving to see if the police are present and then deciding whether to abide by the rules is 10%. Therefore, looking at the focus of work in the future is this 26%. In fact, I think that the proportion contained in this 74% must be what it says, but you can't say whether it is done this way. Therefore, the total number should exceed 30% of this group. In the future, we will need to carry out work in many aspects such as prevention, supervision, reminders, education, etc. under the strictest tobacco control circumstances. So what should we do? Come on, let's continue to pay attention.

Commentary:

On the first day of the implementation of the "Beijing City Smoking Control Regulations", what is the operation status of the Beijing 12320 hotline as the only hotline in the city to accept complaints and reports about illegal smoking?

Customer Service:

Do you want to report your unit now? You can remain anonymous. You don't have to be a real name. Just say your address and company name.

Commentary:

The acceptance began at 8 a.m., and eight minutes later, Beijing 12320 received the first complaint call. The complaint was that someone was smoking in the lounge of a company in Haidian District, Beijing, and other employees and managers failed to dissuade them.

At the same time, the official Weibo of Beijing 12320, which launched the simultaneous operation, also received many comments and complaints from netizens. How will these complaints be handled?

Duan Changxia, Director of the Service Center of Beijing City Public Health Hotline (12306):

We will promote every dissuasion. For example, if you complain about this unit, we have to ask our complainant if he has a sign to control tobacco. Has he posted any complaints and reports about smoking control? Does he have a record? Then he had no smoking tools, such as an ashtray. In addition, have you dissuaded us? Then we will form a work order and transfer it to the Beijing City Health Supervision Office online, so that we can complete one work order. At that time, the supervision office will receive this information from the Internet and handle it accordingly.# p#pagination title #e#

Commentary:

12320 is a national public health public welfare telephone network. It was launched by the former Ministry of Health at the end of 2005. It mainly accepts consultations, complaints and reports in the field of public health. The Beijing 12320 hotline was launched in November 2006. With the implementation of the "Beijing City Regulations on Smoking Control", the Beijing 12320 hotline has also made corresponding arrangements.

Duan Changxia, Director of the Service Center of Beijing City Public Health Hotline (12320):

We have all seats, all 28 seats are open, and another 6 emergency seats are added.

Commentary:

As of 6 o'clock in the evening today, a total of 665 phone calls have been received about tobacco control, including 29 tobacco control knowledge consultations, 484 tobacco control policy consultations, and 152 tobacco control complaints and reports.

Gao Xudong, Chief of the Supervision Section of the Beijing City Health Supervision Institute:

According to our complaint and report handling procedures, we must arrive at the scene within 7 days and complete the processing within 30 days. For some special circumstances, we must rush to the scene immediately for handling.

Commentary:

Obviously, it is not as ordinary citizens imagine that when calling a complaint number, health supervisors will immediately rush to the scene to dissuade and punish them. The more than 1000 health supervisors are unable to meet the supervision requirements of the entire Beijing City. From the implementation of the regulations on June 1 to August, Beijing will impose a three-month centralized administrative penalty. Violations of regulations in hotels, swimming pools, beauty salons, bathing, etc. will be publicized on the spot, and bad records will be prominently placed in the unit or on relevant government websites. Publicize for one month. Public participation is even more essential.

Citizen:

If there are too many people, I will definitely dissuade him. If there is no one, then he can smoke every cigarette.

Reporter:

So if there were, do you think you would report it?

Shop assistant:

I'm really not sure about this.

Citizen:

If you are with me, you will not necessarily remind you if you don't know me.

Reporter:

Why?

Citizen:

Because if you remind others, they will definitely scold you.

Bai Yansong:

You see, if you are afraid of offending others, you would rather harm your own health in the end. After offending others, there may be a lot of trouble, so it is indeed a big challenge.

Let's see that if we want to do this well this time, we need four levels: government management, unit responsibility, individual law-abiding, and social supervision. One of the important highlights is unit responsibility. If you want to smoke here, I will go to your company, such as the restaurant operator, etc., I will go to you as the operator.

Next, let's look at three places that everyone recognizes as having long-standing problems. One is entertainment venues, the other is restaurants, and the other is office buildings.

Well, if you met a stranger smoking, what would you do? In restaurants, 16% of them choose that I have to persuade them. 29% Forget it, I'll change my own position, stop smoking second-hand smoke, or stay away from second-hand smoke. There are also 27% who save the country and ask the waiter to dissuade them. I will not directly offend this person. 16% endured it, and 12% made a report call.

What do you do when other diners dissuade you from smoking? 56% accepted dissuasion, and the effect was very good when they were surveyed. I hope these 56% will not scold people when they are dissuaded. Ignore it and continue to smoke 17%. You see, 19% refuse or even quarrel, and the other 8%.

Well, facing such challenges, we will start today as the most stringent in history. Next we're going to connect with an expert, who is a real expert. Because he was a participant in the entire drafting and investigation of the "Beijing Smoking Control Regulations", Zhang Jianshu, President of the Beijing City Tobacco Control Association, and hello, President Zhang.

Zhang Jianshu, President of Beijing City Tobacco Control Association:

Hello, Yan Song.

Bai Yansong:

In fact, this time you will see that entertainment venues, office buildings, and restaurants are all key areas, but also long-standing areas. But you can't enter some such as office buildings. How can you implement good tobacco control effects?

Zhang Jianshu:

The main responsibility this time is that the unit is responsible. The unit is important, but we are individual and the unit is important. Therefore, after the reports and complaints against the unit are recorded, the supervisors will sort them out, and then focus on inspections and punish the key ones.

Bai Yansong:

In other words, do you, for example, places that are inaccessible, such as office buildings, etc., still hope that the public themselves can exercise this kind of supervision?

Zhang Jianshu:

Yes, we have spot checks, explicit inspections, and unannounced visits, so that we can go deep into everything. This "Beijing City Smoking Control Regulations" have the broadest coverage. All workplaces and indoor environments in public places are included in this tobacco control regulations, so this law enforcement officer can go anywhere.# p#pagination title #e#

Bai Yansong:

The second problem is, of course I noticed that today this battle is very large, and a lot of manpower has been invested, such as more than 1000 such supervisors and so on. But will it be that everyone will be particularly devoted in the past two days, but after a period of time, people will be exhausted, and Beijing is so big and covers so many areas, it will gradually relax again?

Zhang Jianshu:

My idea is that one of the highlights of our "Beijing City Smoking Control Regulations" is public governance on public issues. This city is related to thousands of households and everyone. Almost apart from smokers, there are so many smokers harmed by second-hand smoke. They should also take the initiative to stand up and do a good job in tobacco control work together. Everyone can use some of the gestures we advocate to dissuade smoking, and then come out to dissuade and demand service personnel and operators of their venues. They should exercise their main responsibilities. They should dissuade them. If they don't dissuade them, we can then complain to 12320 to deal with this unit.

Bai Yansong:

I noticed that today, when there are problems with investigations and investigations, we are still relatively lenient reminders, but we have not immediately imposed, for example, high fines, and ordered rectification. Is this also related to the fact that our rule of law is relatively strict, it is relatively advanced, and we need to give everyone an adaptation stage?

Zhang Jianshu:

When we enacted this law, the punishment for units was to give advance warning for the first time, and the second time was to order rectification. If no correction was made during the rectification order period, then we would impose penalties.

Bai Yansong:

The last issue will also be reflected by many people. For example, in other countries that implement stricter tobacco control than us, smoking rooms at airports are still absolutely preserved, and their ventilation equipment is very good. Because it is a closed space after all, and it is possible to miss the flight. But this time we have closed all three terminals in the capital. Is this another form of formalism?

Zhang Jianshu:

No, I have personally gone to the Capital Airport to conduct a lot of research and have also been to airports in other places. So setting up a smoking room is actually unscientific and cannot achieve a true isolation state.

Bai Yansong:

But why are there smoking rooms in airports in basically large countries and cities internationally?

Zhang Jianshu:

They are also gradually changing. This statutory time, now if it is the newly enacted law, the newly enacted smoking control regulations, basically all smoking rooms will be abolished. Well, because a lot of scientific data has proved that this cannot be isolated. I went to the smoking room of the Capital Airport, where the smoke was particularly foul and very strong. If you stay there for a while, there will be a strong smell of smoke coming out of your clothes. That's called third-hand smoke. In that environment, the smell of smoke is already very strong. This is a fundamentally independent ventilation equipment that cannot isolate it. Therefore, indoor smoking is definitely completely prohibited this time.

But we're not saying we will never allow smoking. Then you can have outdoor smoking areas. Didn't we close 14 smoking rooms this time? Capital Airport, but it also opens 17 outdoor smoking areas, so if smokers need it, they can go to the smoking areas.

Bai Yansong:

But the problem is that passengers who have completed the formalities cannot get out.

Zhang Jianshu:

At a remote boarding gate and Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, it is possible on their outer platforms, but there is a quarantine area inside.

Bai Yansong:

Okay, this also requires many parties to know and adapt to it. Thank you, President Zhang, for accepting our interview. Thank you. Next, we will continue to pay attention to how more people can participate in this matter, not just in Beijing, but throughout China, to better complete this task of tobacco control.

Commentary:

On the official website of the Tobacco Control Office of China, the death toll increases by one every 30 seconds or so on average.

Since joining the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the number of people who have died from tobacco damage in my country has exceeded 10 million. Today, the strictest tobacco control order in history is implemented in Beijing. Today is also International Children's Day. This tobacco control order is regarded as the best gift to children in Beijing. Because currently, 740 million people in my country are suffering from second-hand smoke, of which 180 million are children and teenagers, and the smoking rate of 13 - 15-year-old middle school students has reached 6.9%. However, the severity of the tobacco control situation in China does not just lie with children.

As early as 2003, my country signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and the Convention came into effect in China in 2006. However, in the past decade since China's tobacco control, China's tobacco economy has also developed rapidly. From 2004 to 2014, the country's total cigarette production increased by 39%, with a total of nearly 25 trillion cigarettes produced. The total length of these cigarettes can circle the earth more than 50,000 times. In the first quarter of this year, my country's cigarette consumption tax was 34.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.5%. At present, China has become the world's largest tobacco producer and consumer. Over the years, although my country has successively introduced many smoking bans, various local governments have also continued to introduce stricter smoking bans. However, most of these smoking bans have become dead letters, and some places have never even issued a ticket.# p#pagination title #e#

Yang Xiaoli, Director of the Catering Service Department of the Food and Drug Administration of Lan 'Zhou City:

In terms of personal smoking, it is more difficult for us to punish. Our administrative penalty requires evidence, but during the process of obtaining evidence, because of our limited authority, we cannot obtain personal identity information.

Commentary:

At the same time, my country has been criticized for the labeling of warning signs on cigarette packs. Last year, the World Health Organization released a report called "China's Cigarette Health Warning," pointing out that the words smoking is harmful to health have little warning effect. Currently, more than 60 countries around the world have passed legislation requiring the use of graphical methods for health warnings. For example, Canada uses photos of lung cancer patients in their terminal stages, and India uses pictures of lung disease and oral cancer.

Zhi Xiuyi, executive director of China Tobacco Control Association:

If you go to Australia and Western countries to take a look at the Yunyan, Zhongnanhai, and pandas produced in our country, more than 50% of the cigarette packs have rotten toes, rotten lungs printed on them, and then ulceration. There are superficial blood vessels like these, but none in our country.

Commentary:

On May 10, my country raised the cigarette consumption tax again after a lapse of six years. The consumption tax rate for cigarette commercial wholesale will be raised from the previous 5% to 11%, and a specific tax of 5% will be levied on each cigarette. This means that a pack of cigarettes with a wholesale price of 10 yuan will be subject to tax rate adjustment. After the tax rate adjustment, an additional tax of about 70 cents will be paid. Last year, the WHO proposed to the China government to increase the tobacco tax to 70% of the retail price of cigarettes. Currently, my country's tobacco tax is only about 40%.

Wang Longde, academician of China Academy of Engineering:

We do not have a national special law, so smoking in public places can be said to be very common. There is also the fact that our country's tobacco management and sales are not separated from government and enterprises. Tobacco companies are also tobacco monopoly bureaus and administrative institutions of the country, so these two units are mixed together. For example, enterprises make profits, and the country's administrative units should control tobacco. Therefore, the two government and enterprises are not separated, and the impact is very serious.

Bai Yansong:

Beijing today began implementing what is known as the strictest tobacco control in history. It is a big holiday gift for children. Can it be copied across the country? Next, we want to connect with Yang Gonghuan, vice president of China Tobacco Control Association. Hello, President Yang.

Yang Gonghuan, Vice President of China Tobacco Control Association:

Hello.

Bai Yansong:

Do you think Beijing is implementing the strictest tobacco control in history today. Is it mature to replicate it across the country? Or will it take a long process?

Yang Gonghuan:

From the Beijing regulation or before Beijing, nearly 20 cities have actually banned smoking in indoor public places and workplaces to varying degrees in China after the Convention came into effect. The number of people it covers has actually reached 140 million. Therefore, since the promulgation of this regulation in Beijing, I personally think that many experts also share the same view and think that the time is ripe to introduce such a regulation nationwide. Therefore, the National Health and Family Planning Commission was actually preparing a draft of this bill last year, and in November last year, the State Council had already solicited opinions and was already soliciting opinions. Therefore, as far as I know, in fact, laws and regulations at the national level are in the process of being promoted.

Bai Yansong:

Okay, then today when we talk about the strictest tobacco control in history, what everyone sees more about control and blocking in the news. But in the entire process of tobacco control, blocking and loosening must be combined. What do you think of us now that we have too much blocking, but not enough loosening? For example, if there are smoking areas outdoors, special ashtrays are set up to guide people here, rather than becoming a more dangerous place where they may smoke secretly or avoid smoking, which contains safety hazards. What do you think of tobacco control? The combination of blocking and sparse?

Yang Gonghuan:

In fact, I think such laws and regulations mainly depend on our awareness of abiding by the law. If we say that people who do not abide by the law only have to rely on the law enforcement team to impose fines or report them, if there is only one rule, how can the penalty actually survive? There are 20 million people in Beijing and about 4 million smokers. If we really rely on fines and management, I don't think this will be possible. Therefore, I think the first thing is to establish our awareness of abiding by the law and respect for the law. Then this law must truly be authoritative, which is actually dialectical with blocking and sparse. Without this effective enforcement law, then reverence for this law will gradually become irrelevant. I think in fact, in other cities, including us in Beijing, during the 2008 Olympics, although it was not this kind of law, it was also a mayor's order. However, it was precisely because people might have a high opinion of it at the beginning, but when it was done, there were not many people enforcing it, so this kind of awe of the law is not a matter.# p#pagination title #e#

Bai Yansong:

Okay, thank you very much, President Yang. Let's stop talking about time first. In addition, for example, in densely populated places, can mobile smoking also be prohibited? It must be fixed, and many such experiences from abroad are also worth learning from.