Public smoking still prevalent despite laws: Shanghai

Shanghai (CNS) – Local Internet cafés, entertainment venues and restaurants hold the record for tobacco smoke pollution in 2011, the Shanghai Municipal Government admitted March 1. Smoking rates in the three places are far higher than other places where smoking is banned.

The report issued by the local government identified two main contributions to the high-rate of smoking in these venues: deficiencies in the current law enforcement methods that lead to failures to deter the behavior, and business operators who have no strong motivation to self-regulate.

More public education and training on the detrimental effects of smoking are needed this year, said Li Zhongyang, deputy director for the Shanghai Health Promotion Committee (SHPC).

Local authorities investigated over 490,000 public venues last year, and fined 66 unites and five individuals. They plan to introduce more enforcement measures this year, including increasing outreach training for the staff of public venues where the prevalence of smokers is high, and requiring the installation of detectors for smoke and PM2.5, explained Tang Jieqiong, deputy director of SHPC.