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Second-hand smoke affects the health of everyone inside – from workers to guests, the elderly and children.
There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke. The only way to protect against the very serious health hazards caused by exposure to second-hand smoke is through 100 percent smoke-free environments, with no loopholes and no exceptions.
Beijing's lawmakers are now finalizing a law to make the capital's public places smoke free. They have an opportunity to make Beijing the first 100 percent smoke-free city in China.
Last month, I was extremely pleased to learn that a potential loophole in the Beijing smoke-free law on individual offices had been removed from the draft law. That was very good news. But my pleasure on hearing this was matched by serious disappointment on learning about exemptions which are now proposed for hotels and airports.
The provisions for hotels in the current draft are so weak as to be virtually meaningless. It is not good enough to say in a law hotels "should" be smoke-free. They must be 100 percent smoke-free to protect their guests, as well as their staff, from exposure to second-hand smoke.
All major airports in the world already are, or are moving to become completely smoke-free - Los Angeles, New York, London, Heathrow among many others. Moscow is about to join the movement following the national tobacco control law passed by Russia last year. It is hard to believe Beijing would knowingly put itself in a position where it falls behind neighboring countries such as Russia, and elsewhere.
The World Health Organization (WHO) urges Beijing's lawmakers to do the right thing during the final reading of the Beijing smoke-free law, and resist any weakening by allowing exemptions for hotels and airports.
If Beijing misses this chance, China will pay a very high price – measured in the lives of its own people. Strengthening this law, to make Beijing 100 percent smoke-free, is not only in line with the legal commitments China has made by signing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, it will save lives.
This is a chance that will not come easily again – a chance to protect the health of Beijing's citizens and visitors; a chance for Beijing to lead – nationally, and globally; and a chance to make the air inside Beijing's indoor public places a permanent shade of "APEC Blue".
The author is a World Health Oorganization's representative in China
