Public Smoking Ban Revisited In Spain

by Richard Munroe

The first attempt on public smoking ban in Spain was in 2006. The law can be concluded to have failed essentially because of its different interpretations something that the Ministry of Health may have failed to see ahead of time. Smoking bans are already in existence in much of Europe with France implementing a 100% smoking ban in all public places.

Smoking bans in public places have mostly been driven by the long established dangers of second hand smoke on innocent by-standers and people who live with smokers. It is no longer questionable that passive smoking as it is also known causes a plethora of heath related complications including exacerbated asthma in children, heart disease, stroke and even heart attacks. This is only a part of it, there are many other dangers of smoking.

Governments have always been worried about the ballooning public health care costs as a result of huge and perhaps increasing number of people using harmful tobacco products including cigarettes. The cost of smoking in general to the entire economy is always astounding in economies with a huge workforce that smokes. Public smoking statistics show that in China 60% of men smoke many of whom are gainfully employed. Absenteeism is an ongoing concern for labor professionals who see millions of men hours lost each year running into billions of dollars due to ongoing workforce illnesses.

Public smoking ban pros and cons are at the core of the smoking ban debate. The pros are clear even though pro-smoking advocates cite the fact that banning smoking will suppress smoker rights, cause unemployment and lost revenue to the economy.

Other countries in Europe such as Finland are even proposing tougher measures which consequently will altogether ban smoking within the Finish territory. Spain's ban on smoking is essentially like building from the 2006 ruins. The smoking ban in public places of 2006 dismally failed especially in restaurants and bars because it only applied to places over 120 square meters in floor space. 99% of bars across Spain got away with it because they occupy space less than this.

The smoking law further required that bars that choose to keep smoking would be required to turn into no under 18 establishments. This again was completely quashed as parents felt the government was getting into their space in terms of what was right or wrong for their children.

The tobacco regulation of 2006 had its own success from the anti-smoking perspective. A host of newspaper kiosks across Spain that sold cigarettes were driven out of business and shut down. In bars and restaurants that implemented the anti-smoking requirements waiters and waitresses were found to have quit smoking. 5% of waiters stopped smoking due to the changed environment and for those who continued smoking there was a 9% drop in the number of cigarettes smoked.

Despite the furore from the restaurant and bar industry the 2010 public smoking ban appears to be going right ahead. Spain has a second chance to catch up with the rest of Europe. Already there are concerns that the lack of an effective smoking law will damage tourism and the general outlook of the country in the face of an increasingly health conscious public. The smoking banning will be implemented progressively beginning with shopping malls, railway stations and large public buildings. From thereon the law will creep into every enclosed space in the entire country. In Barcelona the law is already in place and making progress.

In general terms it is unlikely that resistance to public smoking bans by those who support tobacco use including the infamous big tobacco itself will make any difference. The fact that a huge movement of smokers is shifting to electronic smoking and many others seriously thinking about quitting shows a damaged confidence in the future of the industry amongst those who have supported if for decades by buying its products. As in the case of Finland above, that would arguably be the new level of the fight against tobacco in the coming decades involving outright tobacco banning.

Perhaps some in the tobacco industry are seeing it. Recently in 2009 an American cigarette manufacturer struck a deal with a Swedish company to take over it's stop smoking products business. This raised eyebrows in many circles about how confident the industry is with its own threatened and dwindling market in years to come. The public smoking ban in Spain should be here to stay and help create a new culture of health consciousness in this tourist haven.

SOURCES:

• Plataforma SINC (2009, October 20). Anti-smoking Law Helps Waiters To Quit Smoking In Spain. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 20, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/09/090910084447.htm
• http://www.notesfromspain.com/2009/01/23/no-fun-finding-non-smoking-restaurants-in-spain/

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