James BryceBy James Bryce
A BAN on smoking in the workplace has led to a five per cent drop in the number of workers who light up in Spain, according to a study.
Researchers analysed the tobacco consumption of 413,473 workers of all ages and occupations between July 1 2009 and June 30 2011.
The study – by Madrid-based Ibermutuamur Prevention Society – found the number of smokers dropped from 40 to 35 per cent, while tobacco consumption in those who continued to smoke also fell.
“The results suggest that the enforcement of the law has accompanied a progressive reduction in the percentage of smokers and the consumption among the working population,” said Ibermutuamar researcher, Carlos Catalina-Romero.
The findings come at a time when Spain is attempting to relax the ban on smoking in casinos and amusement arcades in an effort to support the struggling gambling industry.
The government is pressuring the health department to reform the law as it looks to boost tax revenue to boost spain’s economy.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced in November his intention to review the smoking legislation, with the ban considered the main reason for the drop in gaming income.
Want to get your tax revenues up remove the smoking ban and take it back to what it was i.e. up to the individual bar owners. The non smokers will be OK as they go to bars that are jam packed with non smokers so every body will be happy. I look forward to the hate mail.
Is that the best Rajoy can come up with to make a few bob for government coffers? To impoverish ordinary people even further with tobacco and gambling smacks of real desperation. Quite apart from moral considerations, these activities do nothing to create wealth (except for a few fat cats) They simply add to the national debt in illness and penury. If people imagine that bars are the engine of financial growth, then they inhabit a very tiny world. You won’t get hate mail Peter, you’ll just get, don’t talk daft mail.