OLYMPICS/ Facelift
Drive to make Beijing taxis smoke-free
By Wang Ying (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-21 07:19
Beijing municipal authorities will ban both cab drivers and passengers from smoking in taxis next month in a drive to promote a tobacco-free Olympics.
To raise public awareness of the smokeless cab rule, the Beijing health bureau, Beijing transport administration and Beijing transportation law enforcement general team will jointly launch the "Green Taxi, Smokeless Cabs, Health for All" campaign this weekend.
Local traffic management authorities did not say what sort of punishments people would face for smoking in cabs.
Zhang Junru, director of the Bloomberg Smoke-Free Initiative Project under the Beijing center for disease control and prevention, said the smokeless taxi campaign would promote the concept of a tobacco-free Olympics, the Beijing Legal Evening News reported.
The reaction has been positive so far.
"This is good news. I hope I will never be bothered by second-hand smoke in a cab," said Huang Xiaodi, an IT employee in Beijing. "More public education is needed to get the anti-smoking message across."
However, implementing the ban could face hurdles in Beijing, where almost half the male population smokes, according to a survey conducted by Horizon Research Consultancy Group.
Authorities banned smoking in the catering and medical sectors on May 31, "No Tobacco Day".
The city also plans to launch a series of tobacco-control activities, such as banning smoking on buses and other forms of public transport, before the Beijing Olympics next year, officials said.
A draft of the "Beijing 2008 Olympic smokeless work program" designates the Olympic Village, stadiums and audience stands as "no-smoking areas".
In addition, the draft bans cigarette sales in athletes' and coaches' training and living places.
The Barcelona Olympics in 1992 was the first tobacco-free Games. Every Games since has been smoke-free.
China is a signatory to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which took effect in 2005.
The government has pledged to ban all types of tobacco advertising and promotions by 2011 in accordance with its obligations under the FCTC.
Xinhua contributed to the story
(China Daily 09/21/2007 page5)
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