Should we ban smoking in public places? - Alex Villalonga

In 2011, in Spain, smoking in public places was banned. There are many arguments for and against on this topic.

On the one hand, smoking is very unhealthy, and it's expensive. It makes some people spend a lot of money. This prohibition will help them. Furthermore, the smoke annoys people (children, old people) who are around the smokers, and this is as bad for their health.

On the other hand, the smokers say they have the right to smoke wherever they want. But they also think that, in order not to annoy the others, public places should make a special place for them to smoke.

In my opinion, I agree with this prohibition. I would ban the sale of tobacco, but the government doesn't want to because smoking  costs a lot of money to the state.

Arguments for and against the smoking ban

Arguments

In favour of a ban	Against a ban
Passive smoking and health Passive smoking by non-smokers has been linked to serious health problems ranging from bronchitis and asthma to lung cancer and heart disease and even SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).	Alternatives to a legal ban The Voluntary Charter on Smoking in Public Places has, since its beginning in 1998, worked to alter practice in the hospitality industry towards providing smoking and non-smoking areas in, and improving ventilation systems to discharge smoke from, confined public areas. This makes the use of the law to impose a ban unnecessary and heavy handed.
Victims of passive smoking in social and workplace settings Smoking in public places is a health hazard to non-smokers who inhale harmful smoke, unwillingly as passive smokers. This is a health hazard for all, but particularly so for workers in the hospitality industry who spend a great deal of time in smoke filled spaces. They have a right, under existing legislation, to be protected from health hazards at work.	Progress without a legal ban Public services, such as public transport, cinemas, shops, and businesses, have developed no-smoking policies without the need for a legal ban. Pizza Hut recently decided to ban smoking in all its outlets without a legal ban.
Individual freedom Banning smoking in public places is not taking away a group' freedom, it is restoring the freedom of the majority, the freedom to not inhale other peoples' health threatening smoke.	Individual freedom The section of the population that choose to enjoy smoking should not be demonised and marginalised by being threatened with legal bans. The freedom of 13 million adults should be respected and their lifestyle should be afforded a sense of measured tolerance.
Public attitudes There is public support for a ban on smoking in public places.	Public attitudes Surveys have indicated that the population is content with progress towards smoking and non-smoking areas in public places, along with better ventilation systems, rather than favouring a legal ban.
Economic issues Introducing smoking bans makes pubs, bars and restaurants more attractive places and attracts customers and increases business, rather than decreasing it. Introducing a smoking ban will save the country up to �2.7 billion pounds through improvements in health and less demand on National Health Service resources.	Economic issues The banning of smoking in public areas such as pubs, bars and restaurants would have a serious detrimental effect on the businesses and the jobs that depend on them.
Scientific Tobacco smoke contains over 4000 chemicals, including particles of tar, nicotine and benzene, and in its gas phase, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide. As many as 60 cause, or are suspected as causing cancer and many irritate the respiratory system.	Scientific The toxic nature of environmental tobacco smoke is not significant. Mainstream smoke, inhaled by the smoker, contains nicotine in its particle state. Sidestream smoke, exhaled smoke and smoke from burning cigarette ends sees nicotine changing from particles to vapour. Environmental smoke has nicotine in vapour form that is highly diluted.
Public health Banning smoking in public spaces would also help smokers. It would reduce the amount of cigarettes smoked and encourage smokers to stop smoking. It is in the interest of the people as a whole in that it is promoting the health of the whole nation.

Thank You for Smoking: Spanish Bars Flout the Ban

Fernando Tejedor never considered himself a rebel. For the past several years, he has quietly run the Bar Restaurante Spirit in Castellón, and never had the slightest interest in politics. But just days after Spain's new antismoking law went into effect, on Jan. 1, Tejedor, 43, has been catapulted to the head of a burgeoning movement. Pasting signs in his restaurant window, he has declared war: Smoking permitted.

On New Year's Day, Spain finally relinquished its status as one of Europe's last refuges for the smoker. A 2006 law had banned smoking in the workplace and required the creation of non-smoking sections in larger restaurants and bars, but because of ample loopholes and lax enforcement, it was largely ineffective. In fact, in the first three years of the law's existence, smoking among Spaniards actually increased 6.7%. But this new law means business. Not only does it ban smoking in all enclosed public spaces and even some open-air ones, it also prescribes fines for infractions, from $40 for individuals to as much as $13,000 for establishments that flout the law. Gone forever, it would seem, are those dark Spanish bars made hazy by the dense plumes emerging from countless cigarettes.

Just not in Castellón. Or San Pedro de Alcántara. Or Valencia. Ever since the law went into effect, a small but growing number of bars and restaurants have joined in open rebellion against it, blatantly encouraging smoking and collecting signatures to have the law appealed. José Eugenio Arias, owner of the Asadaor de Guadalmina, was the first to defy the prohibition. On Jan. 3, he hung posters around his restaurant in San Pedro de Alcántara, on Spain's southern coast, saying that smoking is allowed, and told Spanish television that he and other restaurant owners were going to "unite to fight this absurd law."

Tejedor, 500 miles (800 km) to the northeast in Castellón, was the first to join him. In a nation where 31.5% of the population smokes (often with a drink or snack in hand), the new restrictions, he worries, will imperil business. "Already, in the first days of the law, we saw a huge drop in our clientele," he says. "This is a question of survival. I don't smoke, but I have to protect those who do because I don't want to end up unemployed."

The rebellion is taking diverse forms. Some restaurant owners are launching petitions to get the law repealed. Other public facilities that have long welcomed cigarettes are trying to turn themselves into private smoking clubs, so that "members" will still be able to light up. (One kink to be worked out: the law prohibits employees from working in an environment — even someone's home — where they are subject to secondhand smoke. Which is why, in one community center in Reus, Catalonia, the servers stop at the threshold of the designated smoking-club room, and hand the drinks across the doorway.)

They're not the only ones thinking creatively. In order to lessen the economic impact of the ban, Hotel la Posada, in the Andalusian town of Montellano, has started offering a free drink to every client who has to get up from the table to smoke outside. And in Boiro, a town in the northwestern region of Galicia, the owner of the Bar Farmassia is serving his famous tripe stew — along with other tapas — in now useless ashtrays.

The most common form of resistance, however, appears to be passive. By Jan. 4, Spain's Federation of Consumers in Action had received more than 1,000 complaints from patrons about bars and restaurants that weren't complying with the ban. And even those that do fulfill the letter of the law may find a way around its spirit in the form of a good outdoor heater. Indeed, despite the chilly temperatures, clients seem to be taking with new fervor to sidewalk cafés and bars. The general manager of one leading company in the sector told Spanish news agency EFE that his firm's mushroom-shaped heaters were "practically sold out throughout the country."

But Tejedor and his comrades are choosing the more active form of resistance. On Friday, the bar of his restaurant was crowded at lunchtime, and nearly every client, he says, was puffing away. Inspectors from the Health Ministry had been in the day before, taking notes, but he has yet to be fined. Even if he is, though, he says he'll keep fighting. "This is about rights," he says. "Look in the constitution. As Spaniards, we have as much a right to smoke as not to smoke."

Smoking Ban in Spain, 2nd January 2011

The 2nd January 2011 is the date smokers in Spain are dreading.

The anti-smoking legislation Ley 28 2005 was introduced during 2006 in Spain which allowed smaller establishments less than 100 m2 or 1,100 ft2 to choose if they wanted to be smoking or non-smoking, of course most opted to stay smoking. If bigger sized businesses wanted to cater to allow smokers in their premises they had to establish a  non-smoking area.

It was with some surprise that Spain opted for the tough new laws banning smoking, not only are they increasing the current legislation to bring the country in line with the rest of the European Union, they also prohibited smoking outdoors at children’s playgrounds and the outside areas of schools and hospitals.

There are some exceptions to the rules, hotels were given permission to set aside 30% of their rooms for smokers but a plea from the bar / restaurant federation was rejected to enable them to set up isolated space within their premises for smokers. It is also permitted to smoke within special zones in the following enclosed areas prisons, psychiatric wards and old people’s homes.

This new legislation was passed by Congress in October and sent to the Senate for approval, they suggested the following amendments:

A smokers’ zone of up to 30% could be established in bars, these are to be non service areas so that staff do not have to enter the smoking zone.

A delay in implementing the tougher legislation until July 2011.

Health Minister Leire Pajín said the Government will not accept the amendments from Senate and is insisting that the legislation will proceed as planned on the 2nd January 2011.

Reading updates this week it now looks like the Senate has suggested the smoking ban will stand for the bars but an exception could be made for casinos, bingo halls and game rooms which has been passed back to the House of Representatives. The deadline is closing in, what will the final result be?

Spain Introduces Tough New Smoking Ban January 02, 2011

Spain has introduced one of Europe's toughest smoking bans that even prohibits lighting up in open spaces like children's playgrounds and outside hospitals.

Fines for breaking the ban, which took effect at midnight on January 2, range from a modest £25 (30 euros) to £513,800 (600,000 euros).
Aside from playgrounds and access points to schools and hospitals, smoking is also banned in bars, restaurants, discotheques, casinos and airports. But hotels are allowed to reserve 30% of their rooms for smokers.
Spain's Health Minister Leire Pajin previously said: "We should remember that more than 70% of Spain's population are non-smokers.
"So it is logical to think they will be more comfortable in bars when there is no tobacco smoke in them."

Fears are mounting that the ban at bars will cost jobs

The Spanish Federation of Hostelry estimates the ban could lead to the loss of up to 350,000 jobs, as many Spaniards will stay at home rather than go without a cigarette at bars.
At the same time the government, struggling to pay off a huge deficit during an economic slowdown, seems to be hoping the ban will not stop too many Spaniards from smoking.
Last month, among a battery of austerity measures, it announced a rise in tobacco tax which it hopes will bring in an extra £668m (780 million euros) a year.
Until now, bar owners could decide whether to allow smoking, depending on the size of their premises, while larger bars and restaurants had to have a designated smoking area.
Similar legislation in Ireland has had a limited economic effect.
By 2012, all of the EU's 27 member states should have banned smoking in enclosed zones.

Spain proposes tougher smoking ban

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFfxScCY9uY (click on this link and you'll see the video)
Smoking at a restaurant like this one in Spain could soon be a thing of the past, that’s if the government have their way. Spanish law makers want to stub out the habit in public places like bars and restaurants but it’s an unpopular proposal in a country where around 30% of the population smoke.
The truth is that I wouldn’t like it because if there’s a cigarette I want it’s the one after having lunch.
Even some non-smokers don’t support the idea
I think it’s wrong, wrong because it’s about freedom and everybody has to look at it that way. Imposing something, I don’t agree with that. I think it has to be voluntary.
The country’s trade and hotel associations say a full ban will have a negative impact on businesses.
We should all think about how a measure like this, the complete ban would change our lifestyle and social relationships like ours, which is envied in all the countries of the world.
The government says around 50,000 people die every year due to smoking related illnesses and doctors welcome the tougher law.
It respects more the rights of those who don’t smoke and this has been demonstrated in the countries where these kinds of laws are coming into force. It lowers the consumption.
Ireland was the first country in the EU to put the smoking ban into place. That was around 6 years ago. Spaniards could soon follow suit and be forced to spark up outside.

Smoking ban takes effect in Spain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdPKDn_QCPg
A new smoke free look across Spain. On Sunday the country adopted one of the European Union strictest anti-smoking laws. The new legislation prohibits smoking in bars, restaurants and many outdoor areas.

Café Gijón Madrid 123 year old popular haunt for artists and writers has made the transition.

But some patrons raise questions about the possible economic impact.

I guess it’s positive, especially for those who serve at the tables, but I think it’s a waste of money for bar owners as they’ve isolated specific areas and I don’t know what kind of measures they are going to get in return.

However, some see a potential for positive results.

Well, I think it’s convenient that smoking is banned because I’ve been left without a voice after breathing its smoke over Christmas. I don’t have anything against pure tobacco but against cigarettes as what is in them is impure.

The Government says the ban is necessary to tackle the 50,000 smoking related deaths a year.

Smoking ban in Spain to take effect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLw8NDkN6tQ

Restaurants and bars in Spain are going to start looking very different. Gone will be the days of lighting up over a meal as many public spaces become smoke-free zones starting January 2nd.

The Socialist Government wants to put the country in line with the European Union strictest anti-smoking nations.

It insists that the new law is necessary as they blame smoking for 55.000 related deaths a year.

Many Spaniards see the ban as an attack on freedom of choice and an act of hypocrisy by the state.

I feel it’s outrageous that they don’t let us smoke in establishments but that the establishments can sell this, only so that the state can take more than 90% from each pack which is almost 5 euros.

Bar and restaurant owners are afraid the law is going to be bad for business.

From the business point of view it’s going to be a considerable loss as there are a lot of people who come to the bar to drink their coffee while smoking a cigarette and they are probably going to let the coffee go as they won’t be able to do it here.

According to the Ministry of Health 30% of Spaniards smoke.

Smoking ban in Spain (BBC WORLD NEWS)