More law, less smoke.

The loopholes in the existing anti-tobacco law

and new attitudes make reform necessary

AFTER FOUR years of a widely flouted anti-tobacco law, it is high time for serious
discussion on its shortcomings and its necessary reform. This is the view of the health minister, Congress and a majoritty of the Spanish public: 70 percent of Spanish citizens are in favor of total prohibition of consumption of tobacco in all enclosed public places, a notable toughening of the norm.


The anti-tobacco law that entered into effect on January 1, 2006 allows smoking
in small bars (of less than 100 square meters). Certain regional governments
controlled by the Popular Party (PP) such as those of Valencia and Madrid,
have never prosecuted infractions, and have freed larger establishments of the
obligation to install physical barriers to separate smoking from non-smoking zones. The result,             favored by the various loopholes, is that there is no clear-cut norm that the citizen can utilize to demand
the observance of the law, and that in 90 percent of bars and restaurants,
either it is possible to smoke, or there are no reserved areas for smokers.


The existing law’s entry into effect saw only a modest reduction in tobacco sales, while the percentage of smokers is around 24 percent of people of 18 years of age. But, viewed in perspective, it is
seen to have produced positive results on the health side. In its first year of implementation
a lesser incidence of heart attacks was registered, and Spanish people smoke, in general, more moderately than they did before. The majority of workplaces (with the exception of service jobs
in the leisure industry) have been free of smoke, and fears of widespread tension
provoked by the law have proved groundless.


Between the extremes of those who clamored against what they termed a Draconian measure, and the anti-tobacco fundamentalists, an acceptable level of coexistence has emerged, as well as habits of respect that did not previously exist. Some definitive consequences of the law have been a change of mentalities
that favors a much calmer sort of debate than that which took place in 2005, and broad popular support for a reform that would promulgate a drastic prohibition, and a clean-cut one.


The Health Ministry has promised to undertake the reform during the first quarter of next year. The total prohibition of tobacco in all closed public establishments would bring Spanish legislation
into line with other European countries, and would implement the recommendations that came from Brussels
some time ago. Now that the tobacco sector, less active than in the past, has been neutralized, the major remaining obstacle is the bar and restaurant industry, which estimates its losses for 2010, on account of
the prohibition, at 11 billion. Some studies maintain that neither here nor in other countries have anti-tobacco measures substantially harmed this industry’s interests.


Their concerns are legitimate, but hardly acceptable in the face of due
protection of public health, and the will of the public and its representatives.
With this reform, the degree of harm will at least be equal for everyone, given that
now only the large bars and restaurants are concerned.

EL PAÍS English Edition, December 22, 2009