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Around 250,000 Yuan Collected As Fine for Smoking By Health Officials in Beijing, China

by Reshma Anand on Aug 26 2015 3:03 PM

Around 250,000 Yuan Collected As Fine for Smoking By Health Officials in Beijing, China
China is the largest producer and consumer of tobacco in the world. More than 300 million people smoke and around 740 million people are exposed to second-hand smoking.
Around 250,000 yuan (39,150 U.S. dollars) have been collected as fine by the Beijing health authorities in June and July this year.

Most agencies and individuals continued to ignore the city-wide smoking ban. Over the two months, 102 institutions and 230 individuals were fined by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning.

“Of the 5,144 telephone complaints, 70 percent concerned smoking in offices, restaurants or entertainment venues,” reported the Health Commission.

Since June 1, smoking has been prohibited in all indoor public places, workplaces, and on public transportation. Individuals caught smoking may be fined up to 200 yuan, while businesses face fines of up to 10,000 yuan.

“There are about 4.19 million smokers in the capital, yet, only 1,000 law enforcement personnel have been assigned to the campaign. More than 10,000 volunteers have been recruited to support the core team, they have been tasked with discouraging smoking and explaining the hazards of tobacco,” said Liu Zejun, head of the general office of the Beijing patriotic health campaign committee.

Source-Medindia


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