Smoking: to Ban or Not to Ban

Recently, shares in British and American tobacco companies were hit by a Canadian court ruling requiring three tobacco companies to pay billions to Quebec smokers who claimed they were not warned about the health risks of smoking.

As tobacco companies face whopping lawsuits, China – a nation of smokers, whose paramount leaders Chairman Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping were renowned for often performing their duties with cigarette in hand — has rolled out one of the toughest smoking bans, with lighting up now prohibited in all offices, shopping malls, restaurants, bars and airports.

Is the war on smoking really making headway? On Looking Forward co-hosts Svetlana Ekimenko and acclaimed Russian writer Victor Erofeyev are joined by guest on the show Clifford Douglas, Vice President of Tobacco Control from US, to debate whether effective enforcement is likely.