Beijing: Authorities have banned public smoking in China’s capital, Beijing by introducing a new law. Even though smoking bans are already existed in China, the authorities were largely failed to stop the habit totally. These new tougher regulations ban smoking in restaurants, offices and on public transport plying in Beijing. Thousands of inspectors are enforced for the successful implementation of the smoking ban. China has over 300 million smokers while over a million Chinese people die from smoking-related illnesses every year. Under the renewed legislation, lawbreakers in Beijing will be fined 200 yuan (£21; $32) and businesses that turn a blind eye could be fined up to 10,000 yuan. Authorities have also planned to name and shame repeated offenders on a
government website. The new law also brings a ban on tobacco advertising across the city. The World Health Organization has welcomed the new attempt of the government to implement more tougher regulations to bring public smoking under control. If implemented, this new law will permanently bring a clean air to all indoor public places in Beijing. In doing so, more than 20 million residents in China will be protected from the deadly effects of smoking as well as exposure to toxic second-hand smoke. However, others believe that the absolute popularity of the habit among the people will make the regulations difficult to enforce. Yang Gonghuan, former vice-director of China’s center for disease control told that it would be unrealistic to absolutely abolish indoor smoking as too many people in the country used to smoke. Video on smoking ban in Beijing
