[ad_1]
New Anti -Tabaco Law: Prohibited smoking and vaping on terraces and bus stops
New Anti -Tabaco Law: When does the prohibition of smoking on terraces come into force?
Tobacco, more harmful to adults: it limits life expectancy and increases the risk of Alzheimer’s
The Council of Ministers has approved the draft that modifies Law 28/2005 of sanitary measures against smoking, The one known as Anti -Bacond Law.
The reform, which must now go to Congress to undergo parliamentary procedure, includes measures such as the Smoking and vaping prohibition on terracesbus marques, sports facilities or pools for collective use, among other places and a hardening of advertising standards, as well as the approval of measures aimed at the progressive reduction of smoking.
However, in the draft they are maintained certain exceptions introduced in law in 2010. Specifically, Senior residences They will be one of the common spaces in which you can smoking and vaping.
As explained to 65 and more Sources of the Ministry of Health, the provision introduced 15 years ago, which indicated that “in the residential centers of the elderly or of people with disabilities a specific area for smokers can be enabled,” remains in this preliminary project.
Of course, in the new formulation, a mention is added to “traditional tobacco consumption and other products”, In reference to vapers, electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco, etc.
Therefore, based on the draft law, these centers They could continue to have areas for smokerswhose use, according to the 2010 reform, should be “exclusive to residents” and “be due and visibly marked”, as well as “to have independent ventilation or other devices for the elimination of fumes, not being able to extend the permission to smoke to the rooms or to the rest of the common areas in these centers.”
Most, in outdoor spaces
As this newspaper has been able to know by the employers of the sector of the CEAPS dependence (@cea_ps) and Feda good part of the residences of elders in Spain have, currently, with these spaces, although they nuance, they usually be abroad and have some protection to be to the shelter of climate inclement.
In that sense, they explain, the cases in which there are Interior areas enabled for this purpose.
Should smoking be prohibited in residences?
Now, with the approval of the draft law, it is worth asking, does it make sense that there are still these spaces in residences? Should legislation harden more?
This newspaper has asked both older organizations and tobacco associations and health experts To know your opinion.
For the doctor and president of the Health Commission of the Platform of Seniors and Pensioners (@Plaformapmp), José Manuel Freire, It should be taken into account that “these centers are the domicile of the people who live there, They are not a jail, nor a hospital. ”
Therefore, he argues, the draft would maintain a balance between “People’s individual decisions that they want to smoke in what is their home “and” the protection of the health of all the personnel who share common spaces. “
The president of the Spanish Confederation of Organizations of Elderly (@Ceoma_ong), José Luis Fernández Santillanahe thinks in his case that, thinking of the elderly and with sometimes consolidated habitswe should think more about convincing how beneficial it is to quit smoking and think about alternatives so that they do not resort to tobacco. “
And, he adds that, “if there are those enabled spaces, They should have all the guaranteesso that they do not affect the rest of the people who live in the center. “
The president of the Federation of Senior Associations in Catalonia (@Fatec), Josep Carnéhe says that “it is surprising that such sensitive spaces, such as residences, You can smoke. “
And, although he affirms that it is, “by nature, antitabaco” and approves that its consumption on terraces or marques are prohibited, in the case of these centers, it does not have it so clear, while it is done in “exclusive spaces.” And he reflects that, perhaps, “for them, one of the few satisfactions of life is to enjoy this pitillo that possibly It does more than bad “.
It is always in time to leave it
José Ramón Calvopresident of the Medical Committee of the Cuidate+ section – the section on healthy longevity of 65 and more–is shown against “accept without more” that “there is an area for smokers in a residence.”
From his experience as an expert fighting smoking for years he maintains that “I think they would do better to offer therapies to leave it. And I know that they would tell me that, at that point, if they have not left it, they will not, and that they do what they want, but maybe nobody offered it before, and I think that if anyone leaves it, whatever life will be of life will be more pleasant, it will breathe better, and the food will know much more rich, “he argues.
Nieves Fernández Letamendi, Responsible for the Geriatrics and Teaching Unit of the Quironsalud Zaragoza and Vice -Secretary Hospital of the Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology (@seggeriatria), explains that, “based on the fact that the recommendation is always to help all patients to quit smoking, we must also accept their autonomy and, while tobacco is legalized, it must also include this regularization of people living in residences or centers.”
“If we adapt the regulations to public and semiprivated spaces, as a car, for example, it is logical also do so in these, so that smoke affects only these smokers and not their cohabiting. It must also be taken into account that this population bulk includes a high percentage of patients with comorbidity and high fragility, in which they are recommended that they are not exposed to tobacco smoke. In addition, the one that is smoked only in a controlled area favors the greatest control in patients who may suffer a cognitive impairment, which may imply a greater risk of fire -related accidents, “he says.
“I hope we continue to progress and let’s all be very aware of how harmful smoking, until this habit can disappear that the health of the one who does it is disappeared and therefore of the people around them,” he says.
In a similar line, the member of the Madrid Public Health Association is pronounced (@amasap), María Urtasun Lanza, that also underlines the complex balance between Public health protection and respect for personal autonomy.
In this sense, the priority is “Always try to protect to people of tobacco smoke and especially passive smoking. “However, the expert recalls that in the application of the law they collide the protection of collective health with the will, this being a clear example.
The key then lies in the nature of the affected places: residences are areas where people live permanently. Therefore, considering that “smoking is not a crime” and that the decision cannot be prohibited, a “Intermediate formula”.
Get the smoke inside the centers
In the opinion of Lorenzo Armenterosspokesman for the Spanish society of general and family doctors (@Semg_es), “Scientific evidence is overwhelming: There is no safe level of smoke exposure of tobacco or the aerosols of vapeo “.
“In residences of adults and people with disabilities, where patients with respiratory, cardiovascular or immune diseases coexist, any passive exposure is an unacceptable risk. Enable smoking areas, however ventilated that they are, transfers a wrong message and weakens public health policies. These centers must be 100% smoke -free environments, and administrations should reinforce the programs of unhealthy Tobaquica instead of investing in smoking spaces. The priority cannot be the comfort of the smoker, but the protection of the health of all residents, “he says.
Finally, from the Citizen Association Nofumadores.org (@Nofumadores), its president, Raquel Fernández MeginaThey ask to go further in the draft law and take the tobacco legally from the interior of these centers.
“It is shown that, although there is independent ventilation, It is not enough To guarantee the non -inhalation of smoke by the rest of the residents, and, therefore, the health protection of those who live there and work, “he says.
“In addition, these rooms usually end up being used not only by patients, but also by workers and relatives without any control,” denounces.
“It is an open door to breach, not only in these rooms, but also in the bedrooms,” he says and bets: “We know more than one case of residences where residents have informed us that other residents smoke in their rooms and the smoke arrives.”
“Not to mention the danger of fire that supposes and has already meant the death of more than one resident in the past,” he says.
And for all the above, he concludes, “from nofumeradores.org is advocated by This exception is eliminated, both in residences of the elderly and in psychiatric centers or establishments and only smoking the residents in the outdoor areas enabled for it is allowed. ”
Major smokers
It should be remembered that, at the level of all people over 65, 8% consume tobacco daily, based on the data of the National Statistics Institute (INE) of 2022.
However, as different experts in the field have reminded this media, it is never too late to quit smoking.
And, they argue, The benefits of leaving tobacco They notice each other regardless of age. And although it is true that the impact is not the same as in the case of those who have been smoking a few years, it is demonstrated that it is disappointed has a direct relationship with improvements in the state of health and a lower risk of getting sick.
Moreover, they probably explain many of these older people already suffer some chronic pathology and abandon this habit, with help and in an accompaniment process, It can contribute to the prognosis being more favorable.
[ad_2]
Source link
