Little changes seen as ban turns 2

Local health authorities said Thursday that the desired public health effects of the city's 2-year-old smoking ban will be seen "little by little," after the situation from last year remained largely unchanged from the previous year.

"More public education and training on anti-smoking efforts are needed this year," Li Zhongyang, deputy chief of Shanghai Health Promotion Committee, which introduced the ban in 2010, told reporters at a press conference Thursday, where local authorities released a white paper report on the city's public smoking situation two years after it was created for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

Last year, the city's smoking rate at public places only dropped to 18.1 percent from the 18.6 percent achievement made in 2010, a year after the ban had been in place.

The figures further showed that not even an increment of 1 percent in people or establishments were charged for breaking the rules last year, with only 66 public places and five taxi drivers punished 157,750 yuan ($25082) last year.

Authorities, however, plan to introduce more enforcement measures this year, including more training staff at public places that have a high prevalence of smokers, and the use of smoke and PM2.5 detectors, to achieve better results when the ban turns 3 next year, the committee's deputy director, Tang Qiong said Thursday.

Local Internet cafés, entertainment venues and restaurants, meanwhile, continued to hold the highest smoking rates last year at 54 percent, 43.9 percent and 25.4 percent, respectively, said the report.

But success was noted at other places last year, particularly hospitals, schools, sports stadiums and on public transport, where saw smoking rates rested at 1.7 percent, 2.4 percent, 8.3 percent and 17.6 percent, respectively.

The data was enough to satisfy nearly 600,000 surveyed residents, though the situation in 2010 pleased roughly 4 percent more people.

Currently, some 1,170 volunteers in the city also help authorities crack down on violators, who can be fined 50 yuan to 30,000 yuan for smoking in banned public places, or allowing others to do so.

Fu Hua, secretary of Fudan University's Public Health College, meanwhile, Thursday repeated the message given to the committee in 2010, saying that the city ought to expand the ban to include all public areas, not just 16 specific places.

"It would also make enforcement more straightforward for officials to carry out," he told the Global Times Thursday.