China signed the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in November 2003 and approved it in August 2005. The FCTC officially came into force on January 9, 2006. According to Article 8 of the FCTC, member states are required to adopt and implement legislative measures to protect people from exposure to tobacco smoke. This includes indoor workplaces, public transport, and, as appropriate, other public places. Beijing's smoking ban in most public places starting from May 1 is a step forward in implementing the convention clause.

The theme for World No Tobacco Day on May 31 this year is ‘tobacco-free youth.' The Ministry of Health announced on April 8 that kindergartens, primary and middle schools nationwide should become totally tobacco free.

Smoking fallacies

The tobacco control report of the Ministry of Health for 2007 said although public knowledge on the harm caused by smoking has been steadily rising in China in recent years-with the knowledge rate rising from 24 percent in 1996 to 35 percent in 2002-much of the public still holds fallacies about smoking.

After the Tianjin Daily published an article titled Smokers Are 10 Times More Likely to Have Lung Cancer Than Non-smokers on March 31, the newspaper received calls from suspicious readers, questioning why some chain-smokers never get lung cancer while some non-smokers die from lung cancer, and why people get cancer immediately after quitting smoking.

The newspaper dismissed the misunderstandings by publishing another article two weeks later, saying that the only way to reduce the possibility of getting lung cancer is to quit smoking, the earlier the better.

Beijing has led the country in opening clinics in hospitals to help people quit. In 1996, the city had 22 smoking cessation clinics affiliated to hospitals, most of which closed in less than a year due to nominal visits. Only three remained by April 2007.

Chaoyang Hospital was the first hospital in China to have a smoking cessation clinic. Xiao Dan, a doctor in the clinic, said in an interview with Beijing Evening News in 2007 that the general atmosphere on tobacco control in the beginning was so bad that they received less than 1,000 people altogether in the first few years. Things turned around after her clinic received an interview with China Central Television, which was broadcast nationwide in September 2006.

Three new clinics in Beijing were officially launched on World No Tobacco Day in 2007, which were regarded by the local government as a measure to meet China's pledge of a smoke-free Olympics.

The three clinics, two opening half a day a week and one opening one day a week, held consultations with 1,000 people in their first three months of operation, according to Beijing Municipal Health Bureau.

Liu Xiurong, an official at the Beijing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention supervising the three new clinics, said Beijing Municipal Health Bureau had provided free training for doctors at the clinics on the methods and medication for smoking cessation that have been proved useful and safe in other countries. She said the doctors usually spend at least 40 minutes on one therapy session with patients and one treatment lasts two to three months. The medicine and nicotine patch used cost about 600 yuan ($85.7).

"We will definitely embrace a boom with the implementation of a smoking ban in public places in May. So many people will be looking to quit smoking or at least to find ways to reduce their consumption," Liu told Beijing Review.