Beijing could be tobacco-free by end of 2015

NEW DELHI - The Health Bureau in China has revealed that in a bid to stub out smoking, Beijing is working on making all public spaces - including work sites and transportation options - tobacco-free by the end of 2015.

The bureau is also aiming to reduce the smoking rate among men in the capital from 4.6 to 4 percent during the next five years.

Specifics from the plan have not yet been released, reports the China Daily.

A survey last week indicated that more than 95 percent of 2,100 interviewees in the capital knew that smoking might cause lung cancer.

The survey, which drew responses from people aged from 10 to 89, also showed that almost 60 percent of respondents knew that smoking could lead to apoplexy, a higher proportion than the 16 percent who knew nationwide.

More than half of people polled planned to give up smoking. The rate nationwide is just 27 percent. (ANI)