Cristina Hodgson
SPAIN’S Asociación Española contra el Cáncer (Aecc) has called for a total ban on smoking in several various emblematic sites in the province as well as terrace restaurants and bars, beaches and parks.
The call comes following Sevilla’s approval last Thursday, October 20, of the non-smoking initiative in two emblematic spaces totalling 34 hectares in the heart of the city; the Maria Luisa Park and the Plaza de España, the most famous square in Sevilla.
This is not the first time the Aecc has called for smoke-free zones to be implemented in Malaga.
Last May, coinciding with World No Tobacco Day, the Aecc called for a total ban on smoking in Malaga’s iconic Calle Larios, the main setting for the city’s famous Christmas lights display as well as other open spaces such as terraces, beaches, parks and gardens.
Five months later, the Spanish cancer association reiterates the request, calling on municipal administrations to take the initiative to force this social change.
“We ask that more and more municipalities join in to free spaces from smoke,” said Marta Romero, the Prevention Technician for the Spanish Association Against Cancer in Malaga.
This demand forms part of a special campaign, initiated last May, to collect signatures to call for various emblematic sites in Spain to be freed from tobacco smoke.
Sites such as the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca, the Parque del Retiro in Madrid, the Ciudad de las Artes in Valencia, the Lagunas de Ruidera in Ciudad Real, the Plaza de Santa María in Jaén, the walls of Ávila, the beaches of Gijón, the Ciutadella park in Barcelona, ??the Espolón de Logroño, the gardens of the Alcázar in Segovia and Malaga’s Calle Larios.
According to Aecc, an average of 30% of the population in Spain are reported to smoke, with Malaga tallying 298,025 smokers in the province, representing 21% of the population in Malaga.
Meaning that the decision of 21% of the population in Malaga to smoke prevails over the right to have a smoke-free space for the rest of society, as pointed out by the Spanish cancer association.
Among the 250 known harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke, at least 69 can cause cancer.
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