Noticias
Smoking ban comes into effect in June
A Midsummer Night´s Dream for non-smokers in Spain.
June 22nd, 2010 is provisionally the day that Spain's anti-smoking laws are expected to change. The irony on the Costa Blanca is that traditional midsummer's night parties in honour of San Juan (St. John the Baptist) take place on the evening of June 23rd. Since 1928, Alicante has celebrated with the Bonfires of Saint John, which have developed into elaborate constructions inspired by the Valencian Fallas. No doubt someone with a sense of humour will build an effigy depicting a smoker going up in flames!
Spain will fall in line with the rest of Europe in implementing a total ban on smoking in public places. The government aims to eliminate all those areas where smoking is allowed at present.
This means that there will no longer be any special areas reserved for smokers. All bars, restaurants, hotels (which can now have up to 30% of rooms reserved for smokers), nightclubs, gaming establishments, casinos plus the designated zones at airports, bus stations, trains, shipping terminals and anywhere else presently permitted, will have to close down these areas due to changes in the enforcement of the law.
Congress has yet to approve this but indications are that the move has the approval of all political parties.
Back in 2005, Spain's controversial Anti-Smoking Laws allowed establishments to decide if they wanted to ban smoking completely or not. More than 90% continued to allow smoking while others, especially restaurants and nightclubs, such as the Benidorm Palace, constructed special viewing areas, to allow smoking in an enclosed space.
Health Minister, Trinidad Jimenez, has explained on several occasions that the new 'text' is currently under study but that preliminary indications suggest that the Government will not offer compensation to anyone for any investment to provide smoking zones for their clientele.
In order to remind smokers of the hazards associated with smoking, cigarette packets will feature up to 14 strong images highlighting the harmful effects of cigarettes.
Rotten teeth, lung tumours or children affected by passive smoking are some of the images approved to appear on cigarette packets in an effort to reduce demand and hopefully diminish the number of new smokers, especially children.
Many of these images have been used in similar campaigns in Ireland. Annually, over 55,000 deaths are related to smoking in Spain.
Some of the positive effects will be cleaner air, smoke free pubs, restaurants, bars, a reduction in the number of cancer related deaths, lung disease, no cigarette butts dropped on the streets, etc., to name but a few.
For those smokers that may have problems facing up to a change in their lifestyle, there are a number of new electronic cigarettes available, which will provide a similar oral gratification and nicotine kick without the carcinogenic ill effects caused by additives. This should be a win-win situation for everyone in terms of health for the nation.
So start today and make a change by kicking the habit.
