Petition to ban smoking on all Spanish beaches

Petition to ban smoking on all Spanish beaches.

MORE than 283,000 people have signed a petition urging Spain’s environmental minister to ban smoking on all of Spanish beaches.

No Fumadores (Non Smokers) have been collecting signatures for more than two years in order to turn Spain’s 3,084 miles (4,964km) of coastline into areas free of tobacco smoke and discarded cigarette butts.

According to Raquel Fernández Megina of No Fumadores, the petition, which was delivered to Minister Teresa Ribera on Friday, calls on the government to implement national legislation on the subject. She went on to say that the hundreds of thousands of signatures gathered “send the message that we can’t wait any longer.”

According to Fernández Megina, this will protect beachgoers from the effects of secondhand smoke while also reducing the abundance of cigarette butts that litter many of the country’s beaches. According to the organisation, 475 beaches in Spain have already been designated as smoke-free.

Cigarette butts and filters were among the most frequently found objects on Europe’s beaches, according to a 2018 study published by the European Environment Agency. Scientists have reported their negative effects, prompting warnings that nicotine, heavy metals, and benzene in cigarette ends could leach out, contaminating soil and aquatic ecosystems, which creates significant ingestion and entanglement danger to marine wildlife.

The desire for No Fumadores comes as Spain prepares for what many hope will be a tourism rebound. Spain will lift its restrictions on British visitors on Monday, despite the fact that Spain remains on the UK’s amber list. Spain intends to open its doors to all vaccinated travelers starting on June 7th.

The rules that these visitors will be required to obey upon arrival in Spain have sparked heated debates in recent months. In April, Spanish health officials explained that face masks would not be needed while swimming or on beaches as long as social distance could be maintained.

As reported by The Guardian