Beijing restaurants, bars and Internet cafes have been exempted from a proposed smoking ban at public venues in response to concerns expressed by business owners.
The venues will only be asked to separate smoking and non-smoking areas from May 1 as part of the new regulation.
Zhang Peili, an official with the municipal government’s legislative affairs office who is supervising the promulgation of the rule, said the changes were approved last week.
Lawmakers and health experts said the difficulty in introducing a carpet smoking ban underlines the grave challenges faced in a country with the highest number of smokers.
“Originally, we wanted restaurants to keep 70 percent of their areas smoke-free, but owners of Chinese restaurants - both big and small - worried the plan would hut their business,” Zhang told China Daily.
“It is difficult for us to control smoking in restaurants. It’s just part of the culture.”
It was reported on March 29 that a strict smoking ban from May 1 would expand to bars, restaurants and Internet cafes.
But the amended rule means only government offices, schools, museums, hospitals and sports venues will be designated smoke-free areas.
Despite the setback, health experts said Beijing has made a breakthrough in tobacco control.
“I think it is the right approach to go step by step. It is a brave move to ban smoking in government offices,” said Jiang Yuan, deputy director of the national tobacco control office.
Major cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Qingdao are also mulling amending laws on public smoking as part of a nationwide campaign in the run-up to the Olympics.
Health experts in Beijing said they hope the city is used as a springboard for drafting a national tobacco control law.

from: chinadaily.com.cn 

The Chinese capital will ban smoking in most public places starting from May 1 — a big step toward tobacco control in a nation of 350 million smokers.
The move will also meet China’s pledge of a smoke-free Olympics.
More than 150 Chinese cities already have limited restrictions in place, but the capital will be the first to ban smoking in all restaurants, offices and schools, English-language China Daily reported Monday.
Beijing has had some smoking restrictions since 1996, when the municipal government prohibited lighting up in large public venues such as schools, sports arenas and movie theaters.
The new rules, which were announced on Saturday, expand the scope to include restaurants, bars, Internet cafes, hotels, offices, holiday resorts and all indoor areas of medical facilities.
Hotels must also have rooms for non-smokers, but the ratio is still being discussed, said Cui Xiaobo, a renowned tobacco control expert who helped draft the new rule.
Institutions that fail to comply face immediate fines of up to 5,000 yuan (713 U.S. dollars), while it has not yet been decided how to deal with smokers breaking the new rule.
“There are proposals to fine individuals up to 200 yuan,” said Cui. “They won’t be fined for now, because some legislators insist the new rule contradicts a previous law.”
Cui added that more details on how caterers and bar owners should enforce the ban will be released soon.
Some restaurant owners, however, doubt the rule will be implemented.
For Chinese, smoking is part of a meal, said Zhao Yingqi, manager of Jingweilou Restaurant in the city’s downtown. His restaurant has about 20 non-smoking tables compared to the 400 plus tables with glass or steel ashtrays on each.
“It’s not a bad idea to have non-smoking restaurants,” said a 40-year-old smoker surnamed Xie who was dining at the restaurant. The majority of diners support the new rule, in line with national surveys last year.
Guo Xiaodong, boss of the first smoke-free restaurant in Beijing, said it is most important that caterers understand and abide by the rule.
Bars will also be forced to make changes. The rule requires smoking areas to be strictly segregated with clear signs.

from: chinadaily.com.cn 

Beijing is trying its best to contain potential public health risks caused by pests at the Beijing Olympic Games, a leading health official has said.

Reducing the numbers of rats, flies, mosquitoes and cockroaches is at the top of the agenda, said Zeng Xiaotong, secretary-general of the vector biology and control committee under the Ministry of Health (MOH), on Tuesday.
There are various kinds of pest-borne infectious diseases, such as bubonic plague, dengue fever and West Nile virus, which can be transmitted by these pests to humans.

“We are confident of preventing and controlling such outbreaks during the Games,” Zeng said.
Since 2005 the Beijing Loving-Motherland Sanitation Movement Committee has called on sanitation workers and Beijing residents to kill pests and improve hygiene.
“The efforts have broadly paid off,” Zeng said.

There were complaints about mosquitoes biting all night long from athletes at the Athens Olympic Games, according to Dai Jianping, deputy director of BOCOG’s service department.
The major mosquito species in Beijing, culex pipiens mosquito, is the same kind that caused a West Nile Virus outbreak in the US, infecting 15,000 people and killing at least 500 since 1999, Zeng said.

“For that, we’ve invited experienced US medical experts to Beijing to help with prevention work,” he said.
So far there have been no cases of the deadly infection reported in China. According to the MOH, no mosquito-born infectious diseases have been recorded.
The three other major pests were also under control, according to test results, Zeng said.

A citywide surveillance network has been set up to collect information about pests, including the species, population density, activity patterns, and pathogens, so as to help figure out countermeasures for prevention and control.
The 31 Olympic competition venues, the Olympic Village, and the surrounding areas are the primary targets, he said.

from: chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2008-03/20/content_6551725.htm