Spain’s smoke-free and vape-free open spaces

The Spanish Ministry of Health wants to revive the anti-smoking plan that expands smoke-free and vape-free spaces.

The Ministry of Health has set as one of its priorities to, “pull out of the drawer”, the anti-smoking plan that envisages extending smoke-free spaces to terraces, beaches and cars (in the presence of minors and pregnant women), a veto that includes all tobacco based products including vapes.

“We must look at this plan again because we cannot turn our backs on the only measure that can give the population more years of life and a better quality of life, which is to reduce smoking”, said the Minister of Health, Mónica García, in a press conference together with the Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla.

Reviving the plan

She referred to the draft of the Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking 2021-2025, which her department drew up in December 2021 and which, following contributions from scientific associations and the National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking (CNPT), was finalised a year and a half ago but which has never seen the light of day.

The plan was conceived as the umbrella under which the Ministry of Health intended to tighten up the law: the extension of smoke-free spaces to places such as cars in the presence of minors and pregnant women, beaches or terraces, as well as confronting the new challenges posed by vaping products.

Reducing smoking and vaping

The lack of any action on the plan now seems to be a thing of the past as Mónica García has confirmed that during this legislature the anti-smoking plan will focus on several laws in an attempt to reduce tobacco consumption, especially among minors.

And precisely with the new generations in mind, the Ministry of Health will regulate the use of vaping devices, which, as the former minister José Miñones acknowledged, “are not what they were sold as”, a method for quitting smoking. According to the National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking (CNPT), vaping quadruples the chances of being a conventional tobacco smoker. Moreover, 8 out of 10 minors who smoke started with vaping.

Targeting minors

Andalucia has already announced the prohibition of these products for minors, the new consumers targeted by the tobacco industry. The organisation Nofumadores.org believes that it is not enough to regulate their use and prevent children and adolescents from accessing them, and advocates taking them directly off the market.

If the Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking does indeed become law, it will mean the expansion of smoke-free spaces with not only a ban on smoking on terraces, but also in open sports areas (such as football or athletics fields) and in open-air places where minors could be expected to be present. And that includes beaches.