2023-12-17 10:47:00
One of the ministry’s priorities is the renewal of the anti-smoking plan, which would include the extension of non-smoking zones to gardens, beaches and cars, if minors or pregnant women are present in them. “We need to look at that law again because we cannot turn our backs on the one measure that can extend the lives of our population and increase the quality of their lives, which is smoking control,” said Health Minister Mónica Garcí.
A comprehensive smoking prevention and control plan 2021-2025 was completed a year and a half ago, but never saw the light of day. The Ministry of Health now wants to take it out of the drawer and extend the ban on tobacco consumption to more locations.
“The first step is to take it out of the box,” Garcia said. “We will have to look at each of the cases and assumptions. We plan to study what this plan will look like to see if it needs to be expanded or modified, but we have a strong commitment to these recommendations.”
She also pointed to vaping, because all nicotine releases must be included in these regulations and not just tobacco. “Vaping will be precisely regulated and this also applies to all existing tobacco regulations,” she stated.
These plans are already causing controversy. The mayor of Madrid, Luis Martínez-Almeida, made it known that the ban on smoking in gardens is nonsense. “Of course smoking is not a recommended activity from a health point of view, but banning smoking outside seems crazy to me,” he declared.
Many tourist popular locations in Spain have already expanded non-smoking beaches. The Balearic Islands, for example, have 28 of them. Smoking is still a huge problem in the country. In the Balearic Islands alone, 118 million butts are thrown away every year.
Spain is also facing record heat
The news of the smoking bans comes as record hot days hit Spain. In Málaga, they broke the record for the highest recorded temperature in December when they measured 29.9 degrees Celsius. The beaches are again filled with tourists, while the ski resort operators will have to wait for their season.
In some areas, however, the heat causes drought and water shortages. Catalonia is the worst. Due to 37 months of below-average rainfall, the situation around Barcelona is so bad that 20-30,000 hectoliters of water will have to be transported there.
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