The number of smokers and non-smokers exposed to cigarette smoke is huge.
Bao Pingping from the Shanghai Municipal Center For Disease Control & Prevention said that statistics of 120 checkpoints show 20.9 percent of grown-ups in the city are smokers. Nearly 40 percent of males smoke, while 1 percent of females do.
The smoking rate in the lesser developed outskirts of the city exceeds downtown by 7 percent; overall in Shanghai, most smokers are aged between 45 to 59.
Bao also noted that the smoking rate is inversely proportional to education: manual laborers, service-industry workers and those without fixed employment are more likely to smoke.
Bao also said 41.1 percent of nonsmokers in Shanghai are exposed to secondhand smoke. In public places the exposure is relatively higher.
She said that the current law does not ban smoking completely in public spaces and areas open to the public. "In places like restaurants, public transportation hubs and workplaces, people are more likely be exposed to secondhand smoke," Bao said.
Kan Haidong, a professor at the School of Public Health at Fudan University, compared smoking control efforts to reactions about other environmental concerns.
"We all have a common ground toward the control of PM2.5 in the atmosphere. Why is it so difficult to have a common ground toward smoking control? Which one of them is worse to our health?" Kan asked at the panel discussion.
Kan cited research saying smoking was the third highest of cause of death in China, while PM2.5 ranked fourth.
"According to statistics, in China 1 million people die from smoking every year, one-eighth of total deaths," Kan said.
Another study on smoking and lung cancer showed that PM2.5 has caused 20 percent of lung cancer cases, while the smoking accounted for 40 percent.
"From all perspectives, smoking control is as important as the control of PM2.5," Kan said.
Kan said there is a quantitative experiment between PM2.5 and smoking.
"Smoking a cigarette is equivalent to being exposed to an environment with 670 micrograms per cubic meter of PM2.5 for a whole day. The worst days in Beijing and Shanghai are just like that," Kan said.
Lü Ankang is a physician at Ruijin Hospital. Every Wednesday afternoon he sets up his clinic helping people quit smoking.
"As a doctor I am very sad to see young patients suffer from myocardial infarction because of smoking. Myocardial infarction is traditionally a disease of elder people. Now the patients are getting younger and younger. Recently I had a patient in his 20s. He has no problem of hypertension or diabetes. However several of his blood vessels have problems just because he smokes. He smokes two packs of cigarettes a day," Lü said.
To get the policy to ground, Zheng Pinpin, director of the Tobacco Control Research Center from the Health Communication Institute at Fudan University, said it is important to engage the public on the new amendments.
Zheng noted how Beijing mobilized the public in implementing its law.
"In Beijing there was a group of volunteers to engage the public. While the elders are square dancing, they wore T-shirts with slogans about smoking. On the LED screens in hospitals there is a continual broadcasting about the smoking-control law, reaching over 10 million people. I think this is what Shanghai can draw on for the next stage," Zheng said.
In 2015 Beijing banned smoking in all indoor public spaces and became the first city in China to comply with FCTC guidelines since China signed on in 2006.
Zheng said Shanghai has done some awareness-raising with the public. Last month, 500 people participated in a run along Riverside Avenue to support the amendment. Over half endorsed a smoke-free Shanghai through social media.
"I think we have a good beginning and a grounded popularity among people. We can continue doing it, " Zheng said.
Wang Di, a professor from Fudan University, agreed. She said that anti-smoking efforts need coordination of several public departments and good public participation.
"In Beijing we have the capital's social security guards - residents in Chaoyang district. Why can't we have residents in Jing'an district help enforce the law? Beijing has done a fine and great job in mobilizing the public. Can we also mobilize the power of the public? I think we should have a close and more fun approach to the public. It may have a better impact in the aspect of propagation," Wang said.
Bernhard Schwartländer, the World Health Organization's representative in China, said he looked forward to the amendments' passing.
"The most important thing is the articles in the amendments are reserved and passed with no exception or loophole," Schwartländer said in an article on thepaper.cn.
