Smokeless China
Despite some efforts to reduce smoking, China has avoided outright prohibition, owing largely to the huge amount of revenue generated by the tobacco industry. Are electronic cigarettes the answer?
Despite some efforts to reduce smoking, China has avoided outright prohibition, owing largely to the huge amount of revenue generated by the tobacco industry. Are electronic cigarettes the answer?
Fifteen years after the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers triggered a devastating global financial crisis, the banking system is in trouble again. Central bankers and financial regulators each seem to bear some of the blame for the recent tumult, but there is significant disagreement over how much – and what, if anything, can be done to avoid a deeper crisis.
BEIJING – In a few weeks, Beijing will implement a city-wide ban on smoking in all indoor public spaces, such as restaurants and offices, as well as on tobacco advertising outdoors, on public transportation, and in most forms of media. If the initiative, agreed late last year by the municipal people’s congress, is successful, China may impose a similar ban nationwide.
A significant decline in smoking would undoubtedly bring enormous public-health benefits to China. But is it feasible?
With an estimated 300 million smokers, China represents one-third of the world’s total and accounts for an average of roughly 2,700 tobacco-related deaths per day. The costs of treating smoking-related diseases, not to mention the associated productivity losses, are considerable.
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