Abstract

Despite the great progress made towards smoke-free environments, only 9% of countries worldwide mandate smoke-free restaurants and bars. Smoking was generally not regulated in restaurants and bars in China before 2008. This study was designed to examine the public attitudes towards banning smoking in these places in China. A convenience sample of 814 restaurants and bars was selected in five Chinese cities and all owners of these venues were interviewed in person by questionnaire in 2007. Eighty six percent of current nonsmoking subjects had at least one-day exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) at work in the past week. Only 51% of subjects knew SHS could cause heart disease. Only 17% and 11% of subjects supported prohibiting smoking completely in restaurants and in bars, respectively, while their support for restricting smoking to designated areas was much higher. Fifty three percent of subjects were willing to prohibit or restrict smoking in their own venues. Of those unwilling to do so, 82% thought smoking bans would reduce revenue, and 63% thought indoor air quality depended on ventilation rather than smoking bans. These results showed that there was support for smoking bans among restaurant or bar owners in China despite some knowledge gaps. To facilitate smoking bans in restaurants and bars, it is important to promote health education on specific hazards of SHS, provide country-specific evidence on smoking bans and hospitality revenues, and disseminate information that restricting smoking and ventilation alone cannot eliminate SHS hazards.

Highlights

  • Secondhand smoke (SHS) has been proven to cause several diseases affecting many organs in human beings

  • The research team from the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or an equivalent health education institute in each city invited owners to participate in the study by phone if a customer service number was available or by visiting the venues in person and asking owners to participate in the study

  • No significant differences in other demographic characteristics were observed between subjects from different cities

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Summary

Introduction

Secondhand smoke (SHS) has been proven to cause several diseases affecting many organs in human beings. The adverse health effects of SHS and the benefits of smoking bans have been well documented [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Restaurants and bars are very important public places for many people, and they are workplaces for restaurant or bar workers. Smoke-free laws, with 37 including both restaurants and bars [8]. Only 9% of countries mandate smoke-free bars and restaurants [9]. In mainland China in 2010, 26% of its urban adult population and 30% of its rural adult population were current smokers, with about 70% of its adult population exposed to SHS in a typical week [10]

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