Guangzhou is considering drafting a law that reduces the number of public areas where smokers will be allowed to light up.

The Guangzhou Smoking Control Association, the Guangzhou Lawyers' Association and the Guangzhou Medical, Health and Science Popularization Association said they hope the new legislation will ban smoking in public places such as offices, schools, hospitals, museums, cinemas, elevators and taxis.

They also hope the law will require non-smoking sections in places like restaurants, karaoke bars and waiting halls at railway stations in the capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

A law of the same nature was passed in Shenzhen, another Guangdong city, in 1998.

The municipal justice bureau has put the legislation on its agenda and a team is being formed to guide it through the process.

Huang Benjia, secretary-general of the Guangdong Smoking Control Association, said a law should be more effective in enforcing anti-smoking practices than the mere notice released by the Guangzhou government in 1995.

Banning smoking in places such as buses and large meeting areas has been largely effective in Guangzhou, Huang said.

Cities in Guangdong and eight other provinces banned outdoor tobacco advertisements last year, and four more in Guangdong have applied since then, he said.

Educating adolescents is the key in reducing the smoking population, Huang said, citing a survey conducted last year that found 15 percent of middle school students in Guangzhou had at least tried smoking.

(China Daily May 30, 2006)