China Aims for a Smoke-Free Olympic Games

Digest

China
China Aims for a Smoke-Free Olympic Games
Beijing — China has nearly 360 mn smokers, 26% of its population and a third of the global total, and the nation is dependent on the tobacco industry for huge tax revenues.

Despite this, Chinese health officials believe that a “smoke-free” Olympics is the right decision as smoking bans increase worldwide.

Organizers have banned tobacco from many of the public places where athletes and Olympic officials are likely to meet during the games in August.

The capital has further required that 70% of all hotel rooms be non-smoking and, since October of 2007, banning taxi drivers from smoking inside their cars. Since 1996, authorities from Beijing have tried to ban smoking in public places such as restaurants, hospitals, trains, busses, libraries, and schools.