Doctors seek clampdown on cigarette sales - 03.09.2010

DOCTORS have called on the Spanish government to ban cigarette sales in machines in bars and from kiosks.

The National Committee for the Prevention of Tobacco Addiction also wants smoking to be banished from children’s parks and on pavements near colleges and hospitals.  And police should have the power to fine those who defy the law.
According to doctors, numerous point-of-sale machines increases the accessibility of tobacco to youngsters, and they want the number of hotel rooms made available for smokers in the forthcoming new legislation halved to 15%.
They are also concerned about smoking on terraces, where there are obstacles which stop the free circulation of the air.
 
Tobacco is reckoned to kill some 50,000 people in Spain each year, with 2% working in  the hostelry sector.
 
Changes to the 2005 tobacco law is now at the amendment state in parliament, and the government plans to introduce the new legislation on 1^st January 2011.