The Council Calls for 'Dialogue' with the Government to Define New Smoke-Free Areas

The Health Minister, Marciano Gómez, has advocated for 'dialogue' regarding the new Anti-Smoking Law being prepared by the Government, which will expand smoke-free areas to include work vehicles, public pools, campuses, and the exteriors of nightclubs. He believes that the 'forum' where these issues should be 'decided' should be the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS).

He expressed this view in statements to the media after meeting on Thursday with professionals from the pediatric hematopoietic transplant team and other units involved in the application of advanced therapies in the field of Pediatrics at La Fe Hospital in Valencia, following the Health Minister, Mónica García, revealing details of the new regulation.

"The assessment made by the Health Department is the assessment it constantly and permanently makes. The Department defends the right to health, upholds the right of non-smokers over smokers, but also advocates for dialogue and that these rules be discussed in the Interterritorial Council," he stated. He also called for progress "in the same direction, but that we be informed by the Ministry" of Health.

Asked whether these areas were among those debated when the anti-smoking plan was approved a year ago, the minister clarified that he was present at that meeting where "smoke-free cars and beaches" were discussed, emphasizing that the goal of the Generalitat and also "of all Spain" is to achieve "a smoke-free generation."

"I am not questioning the what. On the contrary, I fully agree with the what," he argued, while stating: "We must protect health, and smoking harms health, and smoke harms health. We will prioritize the right of non-smokers over smokers."

He stated that what he is "against" is "the how" it has been managed by the Ministry of Health: "We have established a National Health System with 17 autonomous communities that provide health services, with a Ministry that must coordinate us and we must advance in common or agreed policies in which, as in this case, we agree, but which could be executed differently."

"I am not at all criticizing the fact of the spaces where smoking is prohibited. On the contrary, the goal of this Community is to move towards a smoke-free generation, but I believe there are forums where these decisions should be made, and those forums are in the Interterritorial Council," he concluded.