Shanghai has gone further than most other parts of China in its efforts to curtail smoking.
After decades of campaigns to enforce indoor smoking bans, Shanghai is now moving to try and stop residents lighting up in outdoor public spaces as part of a wider effort to turn the city into a smoke-free environment.
Shanghai Has Gone Further
Nine departments jointly released new guidelines for controlling smoking in outdoor spaces recently, which outlines precise requirements for individuals and managers at eight types of outdoor venues, including queuing and waiting areas.
Tourist sites, restaurants, and bars across the city have to add anti-smoking signs to waiting areas and train staff to discourage people from smoking, according to the document.
Metro stations must also install “no smoking” signs outside all entrances, train staff to discourage smoking, and tighten supervision of public areas to ensure passengers obey the rules.
A recent survey highlighted concerns about secondhand smoke at school entrances during student drop-off and pick-up times, hospital entrances and subway station exits were also strongly expressed in the survey.
Shanghai has gone further than most other parts of China in its efforts to curtail smoking, and it is one of very few China’s cities where the smoking rate has dropped below 20%.
A study published in November by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Peking University underscored the positive effects of Shanghai’s comprehensive smoke-free legislation. The research projected that nationwide adoption of similar smoke-free legislation could boost China’s GDP by 0.04 percent to 0.07 percent by 2035 through improved health outcomes, reduced medical expenses and enhanced human capital.
Smoking remains a serious problem in China, which is the world’s largest producer and consumer of tobacco. China has more than 300 million smokers, and more than 1 million die from diseases caused by smoking every year.
The Chinese government has set a target of reducing the smoking rate among adults to 20% by 2030, but experts say the country would need to enact major policy changes to achieve this goal.
Anti-smoking Experience Around the World
By 2007, just 10 countries had smoking bans covering indoor spaces, according to the WHO. Yet, by 2023, the WHO global tobacco report said around 5.6 billion people – 71% of the world’s population – were covered by at least one smoke-free policy.
In 2004, Ireland was the first country to pass a “smoke-free law”. The law banned smoking in workplaces, restaurants and bars. In 2006, Uruguay became the first country in South America to adopt smoke-free measures by enacting a ban on smoking in all public spaces and workplaces.
In the UK, smoking has been banned in virtually all indoor places since July 2007. This includes smoking in any pub, restaurant and nightclub, as well as most workplaces.
In Augest, potential restrictions on outdoor smoking in the UK have sparked debate over the economic impact such measures could have. According to a YouGov poll of over 3,700 people across Britain, 58 percent of people support the potential ban, while 35 percent oppose it.
In another survey of over 12,000 adults conducted earlier this year by Action on Smoking and Health, about 75 percent of people in England and Scotland, and 69 percent in Wales, supported the government’s smoke-free goals.
What’s more, EU countries agreed in December on a push for stricter anti-smoking rules, backing bans on smoking and vaping in many outdoor areas including playgrounds and cafe patios. The push comes as the EU is aiming to reduce its smoking population from around 25 percent now to less than five percent of the total by 2040, as part of its “Beating Cancer Plan”.
Written by Yetao Gu, additional reporting by China Daily, Xinhua, and Sixth Tone
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