Residents ignore smoking ban law

Less than four months before the smoking ban comes into effect, most residents seem unaware of the changes the bill will introduce to the territory, recent surveys have showed.
But local authorities believe there is enough time to properly inform the public. Macau’s Health Bureau will launch an awareness campaign about the new tobacco law within the month or in October, director Lei Chin Ion said yesterday, downplaying concerns.
The statement comes after a survey carried out by the New Macau Association showed that the great majority of respondents ignore the tobacco ban and suggest the government strengthen its promotion.
The association conducted interviews of 212 residents between August 15 and 18, of which only 17 percent were smokers.
One of the survey’s findings was that only 38.2 percent of respondents were aware the new law would be in force from January 1, while 71.7 percent of the respondents said they had no idea of what the tobacco act says.
At the same time, most interviewees (94.8 percent) support the law, saying it will benefit society.
The System for the Prevention and Control of Tobacco Smoking will take effect in January next year. The head of the Health Bureau was short in details but assured, “There is still time to inform residents.”
“After this campaign all residents will know the new law very well,” Lei told the Macau Daily Times.
It is not the first time the government has been called upon strengthening the anti-smoking campaign messages. In December last year, research director of ERS e-Research Lab, Angus Cheong, suggested the government re-think its campaign messages and understand how they are understood by the population.
The latest report of the research results of Smokers and Opinions on Anti-Smoking in Macau found that most smokers in Macau are middle-aged males with low-level education.
Another issue that has been raised by lawmakers several times is whether the government will be able to effectively enforce the law. Respondents share the same doubts in this last survey, as it found that 81.4 percent of the people surveyed have concerns over this issue.
57.2 percent of interviewees urge authorities to strengthen control and inspection of the new law enforcement, while 20.9 percent want to see more services for supporting people who want to quit smoking.
Some people (17.9 percent) said the government’s priority should be to increase promotion of the tobacco control act and four percent believe taxes should also go up – a decision the government is actually considering.
Almost half (46.8 percent) believe this law should have been launched earlier. In addition, only 13.9 percent argue that the entertainment industry should be left out of the ban.
According to the Government’s proposal, the ban will be in place in restaurants, hotels, karaoke bars, cinemas, schools and universities, maritime terminals and airports, museums, as well as public parks and gardens.
It also scraps the exemptions for saunas, massage lounges and dance halls initially proposed, but allows casinos to set up designated smoking areas. Casinos have a one-year period to create smoking areas up to a maximum of 50 percent of the total public area, as long as they are physically separated from the remaining facilities.