The Ministry of Health will take its anti-smoking plan to the Public Health Commission next Thursday, which proposes prohibiting smoking and vaping in “certain outdoor community and social spaces” and in other private spaces in the presence of minors, as well as increasing its price.
This step, which consists of the debate of the text by the Public Health directors of the ministry and the communities, is the next one that the Comprehensive Tobacco Prevention and Control Plan (PIT) 2024-2027, after having been debated with scientific societies and entities related to the field of smoking. Subsequently, it will have to be studied in the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System.
The intention of the department headed by Mónica García is “to continue increasing these emission-free spaces and thus ensure that a non-smoking person can carry out their daily life without being exposed,” as argued in the draft, to which Efe has had access. .
But, as Javier Padilla, Secretary of State for Health, recalled this Monday, the plan does not stipulate which areas will be smoke-free. It raises the debate of prohibiting smoking on terraces or public transport shelters, but this will be something that will have to be written in a law led by the Government and put to a vote in Congress.
The draft, made up of five goals and 22 objectives, largely rescues the previous plan that was completed almost two years ago, but was never approved, proposing to increase smoke-free public spaces, although without detailing which ones, as it did. predecessor, which specified the prohibition of smoking on beaches and in private vehicles in the presence of minors.
In this way, it advocates for the legislative expansion of spaces without tobacco smoke and without aerosols of electronic cigarettes and related products in “certain community and social environments in the open air and in certain spaces in the private sphere, especially those with the presence of minors.” .
The text calls for “emphasizing awareness about smoking in private spaces when living with someone else (whether at home, car, etc.) and especially in the case of boys and girls and people with health problems.” It is also considered essential to be aware of new forms of nicotine consumption through electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco and to reduce their attractiveness, especially among the young population.
“The objective of these products is to try to make a facelift for nicotine consumption,” and they are “especially” attractive to young people by giving “a more technological image and conveying the feeling that they reduce the risk to health.”
For this reason, the plan proposes to “equate its promotion and advertising to that of the most traditional forms of consumption” – that is, prohibit the possibility of sponsorship of events or promotions on social networks that are legal today – as well as regulate the sale and consumption of both devices that use liquids, cartridges or refills with nicotine and those that do not, since the latter are “the gateway to tobacco consumption and subsequent addiction” and the ones most used by young people. Along with electronic cigarettes and vapes, the document includes water pipes as a new form of consumption, shishas or hookahs, whose use occurs mainly in leisure environments.
“This is a reality that needs to be regulated as it is a source of occasional consumption and a gateway to more regular consumption and addiction in successive stages and which presents additional risks to that of tobacco consumption,” he says. It also calls for taking into account the relationship between tobacco and cannabis consumption in this population group.
Tobacco price increase
Among other legislative measures, the plan proposes reviewing the amount of sanctions and promoting the establishment of fiscal measures, specifically the increase in tax rates on tobacco to increase its price and promote the creation of a new tax figure that establishes a tax specific for electronic cigarettes with nicotine.
In addition, it introduces plain packaging and the prohibition of additives that confer aromas in tobacco and related products, something that the Ministry of Health recently implemented. Nor does it forget the environmental impact of tobacco and its derivatives: “The presence of butts in urban spaces and natural spaces is a sign of tobacco consumption and increases its visibility, contributing to the normalization of behaviors and their social acceptance.” .
For this reason, it proposes collaboration with city councils to promote the development of municipal ordinances prohibiting the throwing of cigarette butts on public roads and natural spaces. Added to the cigarette butts is the waste generated by electronic devices due to their electrical components, which “are not exempt from potential risks to public health” and should also be considered contaminants derived from nicotine addiction.
Health also has the goal of promoting smoking cessation among smokers, and to this end, it suggests including smoking intervention in the hospital setting in the common portfolio of services of the National Health System and modifying the inclusion criteria for access to drugs. financed – currently covers only one attempt per year for consumers of at least 10 cigarettes a day who have tried to quit in the last year.
Finally, it wants to incorporate those that, based on scientific evidence, are suitable for the treatment of tobacco addiction.