Evaluation On Effectiveness Of Smoke-free Legislation On Internet Cafes In Harbin City

BackgroundSecond-hand smoke contains various poisonous and harmful substances; secondhand smoke exposure can cause damage to many organs and tissues, resulting in serious harm to human health. In recent years, with a number of cities introduced or revised local tobacco control laws and regulations, China’s local tobacco control legislation has made positive progress. On May31,2012,"Regulations on Preventing Second-hand Smoke of Harbin City came into effect, the Regulations is the first local tobacco control law in China, which meets the requirements on "WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control". This is the first regulation which emphasized non-smoker’s rights, close to100%smoke-free indoor environment demands, and internet cafes are included in the ban list as well.ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of smoke-free legislation on reducing second-hand smoke in internet cafes and its restricting factors.MethodsEmploying self-comparison method, this study conducted three surveys among40internet cafes, including one month before, one month after and three months after the law implementation. Investigators went to internet cafes as passengers during flow peak in the afternoon to conduct on-site observation and particulate PM2.5concentration monitoring. observation should include whether there are no-smoking signs and report telephone number; whether there are smoking set, butts, or tobacco advertising; whether they sell cigarettes or not, and phenomenon of smoking and dissuade. At the same time, investigators used the Side Pak AM510personal aerosol monitor to monitor the indoor PM2.5concentration. The monitor was produced by the United States of America dust professional production testing instrument TSI company.Results1. On-site observation:After the implementation of the Regulations,77.5%of the Internet cafes posted the no smoking signs in front of door according to the requirements. No smoking signs were posted on the wall for about87.5%of the Internet cafes. There was no significant change in the bathrooms and rooms.72.5%of the Internet cafes still can smell smoke, but the smoke paled. There were still individual smokers found in55%of Internet cafes, the number of smokers decreased significantly, but in these Internet cafes, nobody went to stop smokers from smoking. Cigarette butt was found on the ground in more than55%of the Internet cafes, all of the Internet cafes no longer put ashtray. Neither dissuading phenomenon from smoking nor law enforcement by the supervisors had been observed in the40Internet cafes one month before, one month after and three months after the law implementation.2. The indoor PM2.5concentration monitoring:Covariance analysis shows that, after controlling the factors of outdoor PM2.5concentration, there were no significant changes on PM2.5concentration levels before and after the implementation of the Regulations. Through t test analysis of whether the no smoking sign was posted at apparent position, whether there was someone smoking, and whether there was smoke or butts, results showed that the concentration of PM2.5in Internet cafes where no one smoke or didn’t smell smoke was certainly lower than the ones that people smoked. Whether the no smoking sign was apparent and whether there were butts or not were observed1month and3months after the implementation of the Regulations, the results showed that PM2.5concentration was lower among internet cafes with apparent signs and having no butts found at the point of1month. However, the difference turned to be no significant meaning at the point of3months.Conclusion1. After Harbin city smoke-free legislation, the amount of no smoking signs inside internet cafes are more than before. Meanwhile, the smoking sets are much less seen.2. One month after the implementation of smoke-free legislation, less people are seen to smoke in internet cafes. However, because lack of enforcement, staff didn’t stop smoking behavior in internet cafes. Pm2.5level didn’t decline obviously.3. Three month after implementation, enforcement difficulty didn’t improve. The phenomenon of smoking behavior in indoor area rebounds.