Auf Anraten von Reinhard Waneck (FPÖ) schrieb Andrea Kdolsky
(ÖVP) das Spanische Tabakgesetz von 2006 ab, das die Tabakindustrie
zufrieden stellte, aber Angestellte in der Gastronomie, Gäste und
Kinder ungeschützt ließ. Alois Stöger (SPÖ) war zu
feig, dieses Gesetz zu ändern, obwohl alle damit unzufrieden
waren: Die Wirte wegen der Schmutzkonkurrenz der Raucherlokale und die
Gäste, weil ihnen Kontrolle und Meldung von Gesetzesverletzungen
aufgebürdet wurde, um sie dann als Denunzianten anzuprangern und
mit Behördenvorladungen und Beweisforderungen zu schikanieren.
2010 wurde das
spanische Tabakgesetz geändert. Die
Ärzteinitiative forderte vom Gesundheitsminister, dass er wieder
dem "
Spanischen Modell" folgt, um endlich westeuropäischen
Standard zu erreichen:
Extracted from Tobacco
Control. 2011; vol.
20, No. 1, p. 5-6.
Spain was one of the first
European
countries to implement a tobacco control law. However, the ban
of smoking in
enclosed workplaces had an important exception in the
hospitality
sector—bars, pubs, taverns, restaurant and hotels (Tob Control
2006;15:79–80). This type of partial legislation, known from
that moment
on as the ‘Spanish model' (Tob Control 2010;19:24–30), allowed
smoking in hospitality venues of less than 100 square metres,
subject to the
decision of the owner. Not surprisingly, this model has been
strongly supported
by the tobacco industry when lobbying against smoke-free
policies. The
‘Spanish model’ has been advocated, with slight variations, in
other European and Latin American countries considering the
implementation of
smoke-free policies.
Totally smoke-free
policies are urged by
the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The
effectiveness of
smoke-free policies and their lack of negative effects on
hospitality
businesses, have been confirmed by research, including a
tobacco control report
by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Moreover,
three years after
the Spanish law entered into force, the evidence generated
from its scientific
evaluation clearly indicates that the exceptions in bars and
restaurants have
limited its effectiveness. Several studies have shown that
exposure to
secondhand smoke in workplaces has reduced (although not
disappeared) whereas
exposure during leisure—mainly due to exposure in hospitality
venues—has not. Moreover, exposure of hospitality workers in
venues where
smoking continues to be allowed (80 per cent of all venues)
has not decreased,
but has even increased.
In the context of the accumulated
evidence of the
law's failure to protect hospitality workers, the Spanish
parliament changed
the partial ban to a total ban. From 2 January 2011, the ban
on smoking in all
enclosed workplaces now includes bars and restaurants, with no
exceptions.
Moreover, smoking is now banned on the campus of hospitals and
in healthcare
centres. Thus the ‘Spanish model’ will no longer be that of a
partial and weak ban, but a total one, as recommended by the
FCTC.
What happened in Spain
clearly illustrates
how partial bans, voluntary policies or ‘courtesy of choice’
programmes, as promoted by the tobacco industry and parts of
the hospitality
sector, do not protect people against secondhand smoke. Spain
has finally
become an example of good practice for those countries aiming
to go smoke-free.
ESTEVE FERNÁNDEZ, Institut
Català
d'Oncologia, Barcelona, Spain (efernandez@iconcologia.net), MANEL NEBOT, Agència
de Salut Pública de
Barcelona, Spain
Spanien sah den Erfolgseines
Gesetzes schon 2011, während Österreichs
Gesundheitsminister nicht dem Rat der medizinischen Wissenschaft
folgten. Erst 2015 wurde unter Min. Dr.med. Oberhauser beschlossen,
alle Lokale rauchfrei zu machen, allerdings erst ab Mai 2018, was die
Gesundheitsministerin nicht mehr erlebte. Die neue FPÖVP-Regierung
kippte das Gesetz im Parlament neuerlich und erst nach dem Ausscheiden
von Vizekanzler Strache wegen eines Korruptionsskandals und der Abwahl
der FPÖVP-Regierung konnte es gegen die Stimmen der FPÖ
beschlossen werden und am 1.11.2019 in Kraft treten.