Balearic citizens can smoke again in the terraces of bars and restaurants

Three years later, citizens of the Balearic Islands can once again smoke on the terraces of bars and restaurants. The ban, in force since August 2020, will lapse when the Royal Decree approved today in the Council of Ministers, which puts an end to the health crisis caused by covid-19, as well as all the extraordinary measures adopted that had been agreed due to the health crisis, is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), expected on Wednesday or Thursday.

March 2022, when the ban began to be lifted in some communities, Balearic Islands decided to keep it taking advantage of the covid legislation still in force and while waiting for the Government to finalize a reform of the anti-smoking lawstill pending.

The new law was to go up the price of tobacco across the boardto maintain the terraces of bars and restaurants as smoke-free spaces, and vetoing smoking in the car in the presence of minors and pregnant women. It was also to extend the ban to other outdoor enclosuressuch as beaches, parks, fOOTBALL FIELDS and other sports venues, as well as during the celebration of concerts in the same venues, according to the draft textbased on the proposals of the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery and the General Council of Nursing.

With the lifting of this last remaining measure of the health crisis in the covid-19which also puts an end to the use of masks in pharmacies, health centers, hospitals and socio-health centers, the population recovers full pre-pandemic normality.

Smoke-free bar and restaurant terraces

Precisely because of the imminent end of the ban on smoking on terraces, the Balearic Cancer Association launched at the end of May a campaign for the bars y restaurants who wish to declare their terraces smoke-free spaces when the current pandemic regulations lapsewhich was only maintained in the Valencian Community and in Balearic Islands.

The business organization CAEB -Restoration and the Association against Cancer in the Balearic Islands agreed to set up a campaign aimed at maintaining this tobacco ban on a voluntary basis, informing customers who are in free spaces. The signing of this pact was formalized on May 31 on the terrace of Bar Bosch by Robledo and the president of the association against cancer in the islands, José Reyes. The latter recalled that 30% of cancer cases are related to tobacco usethe range of cancer cases goes beyond lung cancer to include stomach and colon cancer, among others.