The Minister of Health, Mónica Garcíaannounced on Tuesday that the new rule for the prevention of smoking, known as the Anti -Bacond Law, will prohibit vaping in the same spaces as smoking, thus equating the regulation of electronic cigarettes and tobacco heated to that of the traditional one, and has advanced that this regulations will go to a public audience in “a few weeks.” It closes like this, according to the minister, “a lagoon that the industry has taken advantage of To capture new consumers“.
“I want to be very clear: There is no healthy tobacco (…) There is no evidence that the use of alternative devices to conventional tobacco reduces smoking addiction, there is no scientific evidence. And we work with the evidence of the hand, electronic cigarettes, voperators, because it seems to be like that What is vape is not smoked and notwhat is inhaled is still harmful, “he said during his appearance in the Health Commission of the Congress of Deputies.
Smowless spaces
Thus, Health will prohibit tobacco and electronic cigarettes In spaces such as terraces, bus marques, exterior party rooms, labor use vehicles, teaching centers, including their outdoor spaces, such as the courts of the institutes or university campuses, sports facilities and Collective use pools. The minister has already announced that the new law would include the expansion of smoke -free spaces to all mentioned a few weeks ago.
In addition, he recalled that the new Royal Decree that prepares health will regulate the flavors of electronic cigarettes, “a strategy To attract younger people“, and the nicotine content in the nicotine bags that, as she has specified, comes to overcome in some cases the nicotine content allowed in the treatments used for smoking.
The draft of the law that contemplates all these measures, explained the minister, is being completed. He has advanced that, if everything goes well, he will go to a public audience in the coming weeksto begin its normative development. The head of Health has said that her department develops this regulation “of the hand” of the European Union, of “common sense”, of scientific evidence, of scientific societies or the Spanish Association against Cancer (AECC), among other key agents.
Along these lines, he has called on the deputies of the other political parties to support “these measures to protect the population healthand, with a look in a fume free generation by 2030-2040, he has invited everyone “not to lose the course of scientific evidence.” “I hope you do not get late to these measures. We have already seen how there are political groups that vote against And that after 10 years they say 'how good that law was' and that, even, in some cases they also appropriate it, “he concluded.
Price increase
At the end of May, Garcia already advanced that the text of the draft law is already prepared. “We have already With the concrete draft And we are working to see the light soon, “he said then, although he did not determine a specific date for the entry into force of the law and, therefore, the prohibitions. The norm has to go through the Council of Ministers and the Congress for its parliamentary processing.
The minister also supports a rise in the price of the tobacco pack, As doctors claim, because in their opinion it is one of the “most effective measures to reduce consumption.” However, it underlined on that occasion, it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance.
