No Smoking in Spain

June 22nd, 2010, Midsummer’s Night, Spain: is looking likely to be the last chance for smokers to puff away inside public spaces, as this is widely speculated to be the date that the anti-smoking laws will change. The Spanish are big smokers, and the numbers of children taking up the habit have not decreased in recent years,despite adverse publicity about the habit.

The changes will bring Spain into line with most of the rest of Europe in banning smoking in public areas.  Currently, pubs, clubs, bus stations and similar are able to have designated smoking areas; hotels can allot 30% of their rooms for smokers too.

In 2005 Spain introduced ant-smoking laws that did allow establishments to decide themselves whether or not they wanted a complete ban; more than 90% either continued to allow smoking or cordoned off designated smoking areas.

Additional to the total ban will be increased health warnings on cigarette packaging with graphic photographs showing the harmful effects of cigarettes – bad teeth, lung tumours and the effects on children of passive smoking.  Currently in Spain there are some 55,000deaths a year that can be directly attributed to smoking.

A change in the law will have some other positive results, such as no more cigarette butts littering the streets, or smelly smoke wafting across our face when you are eating, and of course, a reduction in the number of health problems.
Congress still has to approve the new changes, but it is likely that all parties will agree and Spain will become one more ‘smoke free’ zone. Visitors take note.