Extensive Reading Lesson 111

中国控烟承诺基本失败
Public smoking ban fails in China

中国控烟承诺基本失败

 

据 《京华时报》消息，2006年，中国签署《烟草控制框架公约》，承诺5年后，也就是今年的1月9日全面施行公共场所室内禁烟。但时至今日，中国不仅没有一 部针对公共场所禁止吸烟的全国性法律，连现有的《广告法》等法律也并未全面禁止烟草广告。烟草行业是政府财政收入的纳税大户，这一现状导致政府很难对其 “下手”。另外高税率也没有抬高烟草的价格。

中国每年吸烟导致的死亡人数约120万，超过艾滋病、结核、交通事故以及自杀人数的总和。二手烟的受害者在过去3年里也增加了2亿。

Public smoking ban fails in China

Five years ago, China pledged to ban all indoor smoking by Jan. 9 of this year as it signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, yet currently China lacks a national law that bans smoking in public places, and the existing laws don't ban tobacco advertisements, the Beijing Times reports. The taxes and revenues generated from the tobacco industry make the government reluctant to impose regulations, and the price of tobacco remains low despite a relatively high tax.

Over 1.2 million people die of tobacco related illnesses each year in China, more than the sum of those who die of HIV/AIDS, TB, in traffic accidents and suicides. Victims of second-hand smoking have increased 200 million over the past three years.