Ban smoking at two sessions, delegates urge

The upcoming annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference should be smoke-free, according to deputies and political advisers.

"I am still confident that this year will be different," said Wang Longde, vice-chairman of the NPC Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee.

He is also president of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association and a former vice-minister of health.

The association wrote to organizers of the meetings of the country's top legislature and political advisory body, known as the two sessions, urging that they be smoke-free.

The letter was also signed by seven other non-governmental organizations committed to tobacco control and public health.

"It's been two weeks and we've had no response so far, but I am still confident of a positive result," Wang said.

An NPC deputy for six years, Wang said he has been a little disappointed with China's anti-smoking efforts.

"During past two sessions, we saw deputies smoking at their dining tables and at the gate to the Great Hall of the People. Tobacco companies also gave cigarettes to delegates as gifts. This should end," he said.

The letter also said that smoking should be banned at hotels where deputies and political advisers stay.

Huang Jiefu, president of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, agreed. "I think that smoking controls must be stricter at the two sessions this year," he said.

Huang is also deputy director of the Committee of Education, Science, Culture, Health and Sports under the CPPCC National Committee and a former vice-minister of health.

Huang cited a notice issued on Dec 29 by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, requiring government officials to take the lead in making public areas smoke-free, as the reason why he is optimistic about a smoke-free two sessions this year.

The notice said that smoking is strictly prohibited at government or Party activities and events.

"That notice, the first-ever political commitment from the top leadership, gave new momentum to smoking control," Huang said.

"We are now on the right and promising track for smoking controls and I think a nationwide smoke-free law will come soon as well," he said.

Shin Young-soo, the World Health Organization's regional director for the Western Pacific, said that as a signatory country to the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, China lags far behind others in introducing smoke-free national legislation and printing graphic health warnings on cigarette packs.

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of cigarettes. There are more than 300 million smokers in the country, comprising 28 percent of the adult population, and smoking causes more than 1 million deaths a year in China, the WHO estimates.

Exposure to secondhand smoke also kills about 100,000 people in China every year.

Shin said, "Political leaders and health authorities should join hands on policies that could eventually help save thousands, even millions, of lives."

Wu Yiqun, deputy director of Think Tank, a civil society committed to tobacco and smoking control, said, "We want signs banning smoking to be displayed at two sessions hotels, and meeting and dining halls. No smoking utensils, such as ashtrays, should be available."

Tobacco companies are prohibited from giving cigarettes to deputies as gifts, she added.

Shin said, "The WHO welcomes a strong show of leadership from the Chinese government and the commitment it signals in protecting people from exposure to secondhand smoke, which is very harmful."

But he said China needs to overcome "competing interests" such as a long-time dependence on tobacco taxation.

Zhong Nanshan, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an NPC deputy, said government support is key to tobacco control and public health.