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Tinkering with the tobacco regulations

By CHEN WEIHUA
Updated: 2009-09-17 00:00

Shanghai is once again toying with the idea of implementing a citywide smoking ban.

Already a public hearing to be held by the municipal people’s congress — the local legislature — on its draft legislation has turned into a joke ahead of its scheduled meeting next Monday.

Even the name of the draft rules, which uses the word “smoking control” instead of “smoking ban” as in previous attempts to regulate the habit, is a huge setback.

China has less than 16 months to adopt the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which requires the country to impose a smoking ban in all public places and indoor workplaces.

Contrary to earlier messages from the local legislature that said the government should take the lead to ban smoking from indoor workplaces, the most recent effort stipulates a ban only for areas that provide a public service. That will leave officials free to continue smoking in a number of non-restricted rooms and hallways.

The absence of a government role model is a bad omen for the new statute because ultimately, government departments are the ones that have to enforce the rules. Failure to launch the necessary initiative at the upper-level makes the effort highly unconvincing and less respectable for law enforcement teams.

The move, however, should come as no surprise. For years, city leaders have been cool to any sort of anti-smoking drive. Few are bothered to show up at public rallies on World No Tobacco Day, even if the photo opportunity lends an easy chance to win over the public.

This deep lack of support is further cemented by the actions of the municipal public health bureau, which repeatedly skirts the issue.

Even under immense public pressure, the local lawmakers aren’t budging. Ding Wei, deputy director of the legal work committee of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress, called the public outcry for a smoking ban in all public places “a good but somehow impractical ideal.”

With such a mindset, local leaders and lawmakers are clearly ignorant of the steps taken in cities of both developing and developed countries, which have successfully banned smoking in public places.

This consensus between lawmakers and government officials has cast a shadow on next week’s meeting.

As is often the case, the weakest link of the regulation is detailed in the section regarding law enforcement. Rather than setting up a taskforce to accomplish the arduous task, it is suggested that nearly all government departments, including sports, culture, tourism, public transportation, and the food and drug administration, work to enforce the rules within their own jurisdiction. But we all know that when everyone is responsible, no one is really liable.

The only saving grace in this is experts. Fu Hua, a professor at Fudan University’s school of public health, is one of those who want to see new rules clamp down on public smoking.

Fu argues it is high time the government got serious about a smoking ban in word and deed. But without the support of government and policy-makers behind them, their fight remains a treacherous uphill battle.

There is no need to list the daunting facts and figures regarding the hazards of smoking.

As we panic about A (H1N1) flu, there is a need to put in context the fact that such cases are nowhere near as threatening as the danger of smoking and the number of smoking-related deaths.

With all the hoopla surrounding the city’s image for next year’s World Expo, an effective smoking ban is just what the doctor ordered — and a move that will long outlive the legacy of the event.

We can no longer afford to tolerate such games on the issue. Time is running out.

 

chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn