China plans to ban smoking in indoor public places
Yesterday the Health Ministry claimed that China issued a national ban on smoking in all indoor public spaces. The ban is included in the government’s 12th Five-Year Plan. Also banned is smoking in outdoor public areas where pedestrians pass. The ban will begin May 1.
China, with a third of the world’s smoking population at 300 million smokers, is the largest cigarette market in the world. Each week approximately 70 percent of non-smoking adults are exposed to second-hand smoke. According the the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco-related illnesses kill over one million people annually. The World Health Organisation says Chinese smoking-related deaths account for one fifth of deaths from smoking world-wide.
