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Date Published: 25/05/2022

ARCHIVED - Spanish in favour of banning smoking on bar terraces

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Spain is exploring the ban as part of an update on the anti-smoking law

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Spanish in favour of banning smoking on bar terraces

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, smoking was prohibited in all outdoor spaces if a 1.5-metre safety distance couldn’t be maintained and many regions, including the Valencian Community, continue to ban smoking on bar and restaurant terraces.

Now, with the Ministry of Health preparing an update of the anti-smoking law, it’s possible that this measure could be extended to all of Spain, and it appears that it would be little disputed.

A study conducted by the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (semFYC) in honour of the 23rd edition of the Week without Smoke found that, of the 6,302 people surveyed, 85.5% are in favour of extending the legislation on tobacco-free public spaces.

Of the people included in the report, 48.7% were non-smokers, 35% were ex-smokers and 16.3% still smoke.

A huge majority (72%) think that the government should permanently ban smoking on outdoor terraces, while 54% believe that tobacco products should be prohibited on beaches, a measure which has recently been adopted on several beaches in Javea.

An additional 43.6% of people would like smoking to be banned in private vehicles while 24.2% think it should be outlawed on all public streets.

According to the specialists from semFYC, “even 27.7% of smokers would support the restriction of smoking on terraces and 9% would even extend it to a space of up to eight metres around them.”

Currently, the 2010 modification of the anti-smoking law dictates that smoking is only permitted in Spain on uncovered terraces and ones that are surrounded by a maximum of two walls, but this isn’t always strictly enforced.

Susana Morena, coordinator of the semFYC Smoke-Free Week, believes the data shows that “hotel terraces are one of the places where a large part of people’s social activity takes place and smokers who want to quit perceive them as situations of high risk of failure.”

The government recently decreed that, within the next few years, e-cigarettes will only be sold in tobacconists in Spain, and the Ministry is exploring a number of other anti-smoking measures including increasing the price of cigarettes further, eliminating advertising and intensifying awareness campaigns.

Image: Archive

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