Xinhua – March 9, 2009
A health association in Macao has expressed their hope that the Tobacco Control Act be put into legislative procedure as soon as possible, so as to strengthen local smoking control, the Macao Daily Times reported on Sunday.
The legislation of the Tobacco Control Act can control smoking in public places and also significantly reduce the excuses of people who wanted to quit smoking, the daily quoted Au Ka Fai, the director-general of the Smoke-Quitting and Health Care Association, as saying.
Au said Macao’s current tobacco tariff has been too low, and even if it was increased a tenfold, will still be lower than that of the neighboring cities. He also suggested taking review on the tobacco tariff every year in a bid to reinforce the tobacco control in the territory.
The daily also quoted local secondary school principal, Choi Chi U, as saying that the age of the smokers was tending to drop, and the number of female smokers increased.
Since the according Tobacco Control law has yet to be legislated, what he as a school principal will do is to foster moral education on the school’s ground in order to teach students to stay away from smoke addiction, he said.