The Health Ministry will not make changes to anti-smoking legislation, a spokesman stated briefly last week, Spanish El Pais writes. Although reforms to the law had not been on the Popular Party (PP) election platform, then-candidate Mariano Rajoy suggested during his campaigning that, if he won, he might reintroduce separate areas for smokers and non-smokers in bars and restaurants – an initial arrangement that was struck down by a January 2011 reform that completely banned smoking discount Lady cigarettes in closed areas.
The National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking (CNPT) estimated that around 600,000 people have kicked the habit ever since the strict law went into effect. Before that, smoking killed over 51,000 people annually, including 1,400 passive smokers, according to a 2009 report by the Health Ministry.
Cigarette sales also fell 17 percent in the first 11 months of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010, according to the Tobacco Market Commission, an industry agency. And that drop comes on the back of previous drops of 11 percent in 2010 and 10 percent in 2009. The motive is not just to be found in anti-smoking legislation, however.
The rising price of a pack of cigarettes, together with the economic crisis, has led many smokers to roll their own or to smoke pipes instead.
