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Director General of the local Health Association, Ao Ka Fai, said yesterday to the media that he hoped the administrative department would implement the smoking controls as quickly as possible, as reported by TDM.
At the sidelines of a Health Day Carnival, the director general said that he wants the government to set up the smoke-related regulations, smoke-free area restrictions as well as anti-smoking education.
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“第二届两岸四地烟害防制交流讨论会”10 月21－22日在京召开。卫生部部长陈竺出席开幕式表示：目前，上海、广州、杭州、青岛等城市，正在按照《世界卫生组织烟草控制框架公约》的精神，积极修订公共场所禁止吸烟的法规，争创“无烟世博”、“无烟亚运”或健康城市。
A written interpellation by lawmaker Leong Iok Wa yesterday said the government did not introduce any measures to respond to the tobacco control treaty which has been in place in Macau since 2006.
The government has recently revised the consumption tax regulations in order to exempt alcohol and fuel levies for local businesses.
However, the lawmaker said the government did not propose a levy increase for tobacco and tobacco products at the same time, but told the Legislative Assembly last week that such revision would be submitted for deliberation along with a string of anti smoking measures in the last quarter of the year.
This legislative orientation, Ms Leong added, was "difficult to understand" as The World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) has already been applied to Macau for two years.
Macao's Health Bureau (HB) will launch a month-long consultation period in September on its tobacco law amendment bill, local media reported Monday.
The Macao Post Daily quoted HB sources as saying that the changes will include a steep increase in the tobacco tax, stricter restrictions on tobacco ads, starkly visible health warnings on cigarette packets, and an extension of non-smoking areas.
Macao's Health Bureau is to propose a 10-fold increase of tobacco tax in a bid to enhance the smoking control, local media reported Friday.
The Macao Post Daily quoted Chan Tan Mui, director of the bureau's Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Unit, as saying that the tobacco tax hike will involve the amendment of the existing tobacco control law.
"We will be promoting a smoke-free culture to gain public support for the legal changes," said the official.
The government of Cape Verde said it would privatize a further 25 percent of tobacco company Sociedade Cabo-verdiana de Tabacos (SCT), by floating it on the local stock exchange. The stock is the most traded on the archipelago.
According to the Cape Verde stock exchange 60,000 shares in SCT will be floated this week at a unit price of 6,335 Cape Verdean escudos (US$73.49).
Dana Reeve's diagnosis of lung cancer and the passing of Peter Jennings are reminders that people have questions about the disease, and many smokers are looking for ways to quit. The American Cancer Society offers support and hope for people diagnosed with lung cancer and their families as well as resources to help smokers quit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including its own Quitline, which since its launch in May 2000 has provided services to more than 100,000 callers. For more information, call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org .
The SAR government is studying legislation to ban smoking in supermarkets, banks and offices while requiring restaurants to mark two-thirds of their space as no-smoking areas. The move has evoked split opinions from the targeted sectors.
Most of the local banks believe their customers rarely stay in the branches very long and would not mind the ban. As for offices, many companies have already banned smoking on their own initiative. Those that have not done so are not worried about the effect of a ban. Some say smokers are usually the annoying minority and constantly scolded by non-smoking colleagues.
As the most smoker-friendly place, restaurants are more likely to suffer from any kind of smoking ban, at least initially, than any other indoor facilities, owners say. . . .
The government should consider a sweeping ban on such indoor areas, or do it gradually according to their sizes or location, some owners suggest.
The proposal was too extensive to offer on town meeting floor, but Board of Health Chairman William Grimes said his committee supports a plan to combat secondhand smoke while still allowing smoking in designated sections of restaurants.
The plan comes one day after Easton overwhelmingly reaffirmed its smoking ban, but Grimes still hopes compromise is possible. He said neither side of the smoking debate contacted his board before the town meeting vote, making him balk at both the enacted ban and a failed amendment.
As a registered nurse, Grimes said he is primarily concerned with public health. However, as a health board member, Grimes feels a compromise is necessary.
The ban will be implemented in accordance with a government decree on smoking prevention and restriction. According to the decree issued in 1997, tobacco publicity includes tobacco advertisements and tobacco business promotion.