China enforced sweeping new rules on Tuesday to restrict tobacco advertisements, in its latest step to rein in a widespread habit that has caused a massive health crisis. More than 300 million people have made cigarettes part of the social fabric in the world’s biggest producer and consumer of tobacco, and another 740 million are exposed to second-hand smoke, state media have reported.
Revisions to the national advertisement law, passed in April, ban tobacco advertisements in mass media, public places, on public vehicles and outdoors. Anti-smoking advocates praised the changes, but warned that some parts of the law could be abused by the country’s powerful tobacco monopoly, which they say has pushed back against a series of ambitious anti-smoking measures.
“They can’t stop it, but they can create a headache,” said Bernhard Schwartländer, the World Health Organisation’s representative in China, referring to the country’s anti-smoking campaign. “The problem is the language that has been chosen, the interpretation of those words sometimes opens room for discussion, which the tobacco industry will try to use,” he added.
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Website: www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/01/us-china-smoking-idUSKCN0R13M920150901