Awards and Recognition
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 Smokefree Olympics, Healthier Lifestyleby Committing to Smokefree Worksites in China (August 9th, 2008, Beijing) The Smokefree Worksite Initiative is a public health project launched jointly by the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association (CPMA), the Chinese Center for Disease Control (CCDC), the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association (CACA) and the American Cancer Society (ACS). This Initiative aims to support the successful implementation of the Smokefree Beijing Directive and the long-term sustainability of the smokefree Beijing Olympics. The Smokefree Olympic Games will be a public health legacy for China, and corporate partners have shown strong support of this legacy. Since its launch in June of this year, the Smokefree Worksite Initiative has continued to gain support from many businesses and public institutions at home and abroad. On August 9th, 2008, a press conference was held at the Johnson & Johnson Pavilion in the Olympic Village to acknowledge companies’ commitment to going smokefree, and to unveil a new toolkit designed to help businesses and public institutions create a 100 percent smokefree worksite. “Smoking and secondhand smoke can cause great harm to health and thus constitute severe threats to public health. The surest way to protect people is to eliminate secondhand smoke from all work environments and public places. Therefore, the promotion of 100 percent smokefree worksites and the prohibition of smoking indoors at all work places is just around the corner,” explains Professor Hao Xishan, President of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association. He is calling for public attention to the harm which smoking and secondhand smoke can cause, adding, “As we mark the occasion of the Beijing Olympic Games, the launch of the Smokefree Toolkit provides an action plan for all businesses and public institutions involved, in line with the aim of a Smokefree Olympics.” Based on the concept of a “Smokefree Olympics” and Decree No. 204 of the Beijing Municipal Government, the Smokefree Worksite Initiative is designed to encourage companies to eliminate smoking in all indoor worksites; and conform to the goals set out in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). As of now, two months after its launch, 74 companies and organizations representing about 200,000 employees have signed up for the initiative. “The Smokefree Worksite Initiative is in the best interests of Chinese employees as well as for businesses. That is why it has gained support from so many businesses and public institutions at home and abroad within such a short time,” comments Professor Wang Longde, President of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association and Past Vice Minister of Health. He also says that the committee will continue to encourage other companies in China to join the initiative to protect employees who are unnecessarily risking their lives at work by being exposed to secondhand smoke. With the launch of the toolkit, the Smokefree Worksite Initiative has hit a new high point. The toolkit includes several resources from home and abroad such as “Smokefree-in-a-Box”, a guide developed by the Global Smokefree Partnership that describes how to implement a smokefree worksite policy; the “Global Voices: Working For Smokefree Air, 2008 Status Report”; the China China CDC Guidelines for a Smokefree Olympics; and a China Smoking Cessation Resource Guide to inform companies of the cessation resources available in China. The toolkit provides the information that businesses and public institutions need to implement 100 percent smokefree policies successfully. As a next step, the Executive Committee of the Smokefree Worksite Initiative will conduct an assessment among businesses and public institutions to determine what other needs they may have. . The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that about 200,000 workers die each year because of exposure to secondhand smoke in the workplace . Cadmium, benzene, lead, and arsenic are among the over 4,000 hazardous chemicals found in secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke is a known cause of lung cancer, heart disease, low birth weight, chronic lung ailments such as bronchitis, as well as other serious health problems. Even 30 minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke can increase a nonsmoker’s risk of coronary heart disease . Given these facts, creating a 100 percent smokefree work place (i.e., no smoking rooms in the entire office building) has become an international trend. Bermuda, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay have all taken action to create 100 percent smokefree worksites. China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has followed the trend by prohibiting smoking in all public and indoor worksites. To coincide with the advent of China’s Smokefree Olympic Games, the Smokefree Worksite Initiative is being launched in Beijing this year. The Executive Committee plans to expand the initiative to Shanghai in 2009, Guangzhou in 2010, and then to other major cities in China. Advocating for smokefree worksites will bring great benefits to companies, which include raising the productivity of employees, reducing the occurrence of diseases caused by smoking and inhaling secondhand smoke, and reducing fire hazards. |
