<strong>Experts Urge China to Ban Smoking in Schools</strong>

Source from:  All-China Women's Federation (cn)  04/18/2013

As an increasing number of Chinese teenagers have taken up smoking in the past few years and the age at which they try their first cigarette has become younger and younger, experts from the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control (CATC) have said that China should ban smoking in schools.

According to the CATC, many young people become smokers between the ages of 15 and 21. In order to curb the habit among teenagers, the association chose 30 schools in the capital city of Beijing as well as Zhengzhou and Kaifeng in central China's Henan Province to become smoke-free schools last year. The move has greatly reduced the number of young smokers.

Director of CATC Huang Jiefu said that he hopes the Chinese government will promote smoke-free schools  in Beijing and Henan and then across China to further protect youngsters from the harmful effects of tobacco.

The CATC also found that about 40 percent of students, a quarter of whom are primary school students, have bought cigarettes for relatives, indicating that some shopkeepers still violate the rule banning the sale of tobacco to minors.

According to China's Tobacco Control Plan (2012-2015), issued by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and several other ministries in 2012, 11.5 percent of Chinese mainland teenagers smoke. Enditem