Five years ago, China pledged to ban all indoor smoking by Jan. 9 of this year as it signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, yet currently China lacks a national law that bans smoking in public places, and the existing laws don't ban tobacco advertisements.
Five years ago, China pledged to ban all indoor smoking by Jan. 9 of this year as it signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, yet currently China lacks a national law that bans smoking in public places, and the existing laws don't ban tobacco advertisements, the Beijing Times reports. The taxes and revenues generated from the tobacco industry make the government reluctant to impose regulations, and the price of tobacco remains low despite a relatively high tax.
Over 1.2 million people die of tobacco related illnesses each year in China, more than the sum of those who die of HIV/AIDS, TB, in traffic accidents and suicides. Victims of second-hand smoking have increased 200 million over the past three years.
