The second round of smoking ban raids in the city officially kicked off Monday afternoon, as reporters and law enforcement officers visited stores near primary and secondary schools in Luohu District, sznews.com reported yesterday.
According to a report earlier this month, more than 90 percent of primary and secondary schools have stores selling cigarettes within a 100-meter radius, and less than half of the sellers have posted warning signs.
In addition, more than 70 percent of students who have smoking habits said they had never been refused when buying cigarettes.
During the spot checks Monday afternoon near Songquan Middle School, a student was found passing cigarettes on to others, while another had a cigarette tucked behind his ear. There was also a student who lit a cigarette and proceeded to smoke it on the street.
Meanwhile, there are sales outlets not far away. For instance, a convenience store only tens of meters away from the school sells cigarettes. Though it posts a nonsmoking sign and the staffers said they would not sell cigarettes to students, cigarette butts were still scattered around the door of the convenience store.
Within 100 meters of Oxstand International School, there are also several stores that sell cigarettes. Though they post warning signs, the signs are found to be quite new. An owner admitted that the signs were only posted a few days ago.
In other areas, cigarette sales outlets are also within easy reach of schools, and the nonsmoking signs are all old versions that are out-of-date and inconspicuous, and one store didn’t have a warning sign at all.
“This means many stores are unaware of the ban on selling tobacco to minors and are profit-driven,” said Zhuang Runsen, deputy president of the Shenzhen Tobacco Control Association.
According to Zhuang, a standard nonsmoking sign must clearly state that smoking is harmful to health and no cigarettes are sold to minors. Violators will face a fine of 30,000 yuan (US$4,571). In addition, the sign should contain the supervision and complaint hotline: 12345.