Most Chinese people are not aware of the harm caused by
second-hand smoke and more needs to be done to cut the number of
smokers, officials of the All-China Environment Federation said
yesterday.
They made the announcement at a symposium in the city organized
by the AEF to promote public awareness about the dangers of
second-hand smoke.
Prior to the Olympic Games in Beijing next summer, the AEF plans
to hold similar symposiums in the other five Chinese cities -
including Tianjin and Qingdao - which will hold Olympic events.
"Second-hand smoke is a major problem in China but not many
people know that," said Wang Yuming, an official of the AEF's
international cooperation department.
According to a survey by AEF, a non-government environmental
protection organization, 85 percent of 192 respondents said they
were not clear about the severe consequences of second-hand
smoking.
In China, smoking in public is common. "When a general manager
smokes in office, his secretary is the victim of second-hand
smoke," Wang said. Some of the city's senior government officials
even smoked while having meetings at work, without regard for other
people's health.
Fu Hua, a professor at the School of Public Health at Fudan
University, said second-hand smoke could do more harm to people
than smoking since the former produces un-filtered harmful
emissions which could be inhaled by non-smokers.
He said tobacco smoke contained more than 4,000 chemicals which
could cause diseases such as asthma, lung and cardiovascular
problems.
Wang said China was doing a far poorer job than many Western
countries - such as the United States - to curb smoking in public
places.
According to AEF, China has 350 million smokers and another 540
million Chinese are victims of second-hand smoking. The combined
number accounts for about 70 percent of the country's entire
population.
Zhang Liqiang, managing director of the Shanghai Health
Education Institute, said the government didn't raise the price of
tobacco because the economy of many Chinese provinces, such as
Yunnan, depended on the tobacco industry. If the government put up
the price too much, it would affect their economic development.
(Shanghai Daily December 6, 2007)