In country of smokers, Beijing bans lighting up indoors

[TexasTowelie]

Source: AP

BEIJING -- China's capital Monday began imposing the country's toughest ban on indoor smoking in hopes of stemming a looming health crisis.

Smoking in Beijing is now prohibited in all indoor public places, including offices, shopping malls and airports. Beijing's main terminal will close its three smoking rooms and special smoking areas will be set up at the city's 600 bus stops.

Fines for violators have been raised to 200 yuan ($32), up from the 10 yuan ($1.6) charged under the former partial ban.

The World Health Organization says 300 million Chinese smoke, including about half of all men, and 740 million Chinese are exposed to second-hand smoke. The group says lung cancer kills more than 1.3 million people in the country each year, one-third of the global total.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/nation-world/world/article22777968.html

[Scootaloo]

1. I think they're a little late on that draw

[NaturalHigh]

2. I had a similar thought.

[mpcamb]

12. I had the opposite reaction.

I'm surprised at how quickly China is responding to environmental issues.

Their industrialization is very young. You can argue about years, but 20 years of straight ahead development seems about right, and they've gotten to the issue of smoking already.

I'm guessing now but weren't the tobacco execs standing up in front of a congressional committee claiming they had no knowledge of damages from smoking in 1990? Got their ass kicked with fines, but as far as numbers go, that's about a century and a half of spewing coal, oil and burnt fossils into the air.

In that sense it looks like a fairly prompt change. And it's in their prime business city to showcase the change.

There are plenty of issues with China, but at times I feel surprised at some of their long term insights and management.

[Tree-Hugger]

13. +1 nt

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

7. You can't fool me! That's a photo of the dark side of the moon!!

[valerief]

10. No, this is.

[Major Nikon]

14. No, this is.

[Warpy]

3. I'm almost as shocked as I was when Ireland banned it in pubs

The Chinese are suffering so much overpopulation that health concerns over smoking were not really being addressed at all. US cigarettes were welcomed and trendy young folks would show off by sticking Chinese cigs into their Marlboro packets when they went out.

I didn't think they'd ever do anything about it.

[valerief]

11. They must want to punish U.S. tobacco firms, because obviously

they don't give a shit about their population's health.

[Warpy]

16. Since educated people are dying in their 40s and 50s

and tobacco has been implicated in quite a lot of those deaths, they might be starting to notice it's poison.

They've certainly noticed how awful it is in public places foul with tobacco smoke, tar clinging to every surface.

[valerief]

17. They've always known this. nt

[colorado_ufo]

4. Oxygen is your friend.

Live in the most polluted air on earth and deliberately draw in more smoke, deeply, deeply into your lungs; microfine smoke that will embed itself into your tissues, laden with addictive and carcinogenic substances. What could possibly be the harm?

[Fumesucker]

5. Delhi is more polluted than Beijing

http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2015/03/09/india-air-pollution-delhis-smog-still-worse-beijings/

The latest set of statistics detailing Delhi’s air pollution has revealed that the Indian capital is smoggier than its Chinese counterpart for the second year running.

Using admittedly limited official figures, Greenpeace India found New Delhi’s air last year had an average of 142.9 micrograms per cubic metre of the pollutant particulate PM2.5 — which is over 50% more than the Beijing average.

This reading is 13 times greater than the World Health Organisation’s annual recommendation, and 3.5 times that of the India’s air quality standard.

Even the lowest average PM2.5 reading — 132 micrograms per cubic metre —recorded by one of the few available air monitoring stations in Delhi is well above the highest reading from a Beijing’s station (98 micrograms per cubic metre).

[Hoppy]

6. Shows what you know.

The science on smoking and cancer is still out.

You're probably one of those whingers who believe in global warming and think that if it was happening, it was caused by human activity.















Yes, Gloria, its sarcasm.

[malthaussen]

8. Right, because we want you to get your smoke wholesale, not retail.

Then again, given the outdoor air quality, it makes a sort of sense to want to preserve the indoor air quality as a refuge -- if the two could be isolated from each other.

-- Mal

[romanic]

9. Pfft

It's gonna take more than banning smoking to fix the air quality in their cities. :/

[CreekDog]

15. who is saying otherwise?

is anyone saying that indoor smoking bans are all that is needed to fix their urban air quality issues?