It’s 10:30am and the volunteers of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) of Ibiza have just set up an information booth about the anti-tobacco campaign ‘Platges sense fum’ on the beach promenade of ses Figueretes. “We are here to help. We can’t prohibit tobacco, but at least we want to try to raise awareness among the population”, declare two volunteers of the association, Carmen Molina and Aquilà Yern.
The aim of this AECC campaign is to collect as many signatures as possible “to take them to Parliament” and ensure that the beaches are smoke-free – that people do not smoke on the beach or throw cigarette butts and microplastics into the sand and the sea, explain two other volunteers, Rosario Moreno and Margarita Guasch.
“We have just opened, we have been here for ten minutes. There is a full sheet of paper, we already have about 50 signatures”, these two volunteers state happily. They do not need a specific number of signatures, “but the more the better”. They hope to collect approximately 5,000 signatures throughout the anti-tobacco campaign.
Ses Figueretes is at that moment full of small children and tourists, and, although the beach is a public space and outdoors, “it would be good if they put ashtrays or something” to collect cigarette butts, says Guasch, to which Moreno adds that “governments have to get more involved”.
Tobacco and the passive smoker
The problem with tobacco smoking is for the passive smoker, “if you are in a place where everyone smokes and the tobacco smoke is in the air, you have smoked as much or more than others,” they stress.
In this line, an Italian tourist, Patrizia Vestori, regrets the irresponsible use of public spaces by smokers, because they do not take into account the people around them and ignore children, “who smoke passively” and harm their health.
Residents of Ibiza and tourists, foreign and national, walking along the beach, approach the volunteers’ stand curiously, who inform them about their anti-smoking petition.
“I think the campaign will raise awareness, the important thing is to raise a voice“, exclaims Margarita Ferrer, who is very involved in the initiative and signs the petition.
Most of them agree with the campaign because they respect the space and think it will benefit the island’s ecosystem. Other passers-by simply ignore the volunteers because they are smokers.
“I don’t like smoking. The beach is not for that, it’s for children“, declares a foreign tourist, Philip Fisher, while filling out the form.
A Spanish family does not hesitate and signs instantly. They complain that, despite “how beautiful Ibiza is”, there is a large amount of mess and garbage everywhere. “It’s filthy,” they hear on the street. “Hopefully it will do some good. I think it is very good that the beach be free from cigarettes”, expresses another visitor to the island, J. H.
Anabel RodrÃguez and Ernesto de Pablos, a couple of smokers, also express their displeasure with people who smoke and leave the remains of cigarettes uncollected: “I do not like to go to the beach and find garbage that is not mine. You have to look out for your fellow human”, says Rodriguez. “Whatever you want to do with your body, do it, but don’t harm the people next to you,” he concludes
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.