They warn that there are more passive smokers despite anti-tobacco laws

BarcelonaAfter the first anti-smoking law was passed, the percentage of non-smokers who breathed tobacco smoke dropped to 37.9%. The 2006 ban on smoking inside bars, restaurants, and workplaces drastically reduced exposure, and when this ban was extended five years later to nightlife venues, playgrounds, and healthcare centers, this overall percentage fell by half, to 21.3% in 2011. But now, fifteen years later, this decline has stalled, and exposure to smoke has even increased. This is confirmed by a study from the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), published this Tuesday in the journal Tobacco Control, from the BMJ publishing group. According to the research, the terraces of bars and restaurants are the main risk spaces.

The publication compares surveys from 2005, 2007, 2011, and 2024 and finds that an increasing number of non-smokers claim they feel exposed to environmental tobacco smoke, as well as aerosols from electronic nicotine delivery systems, that is, vapes. According to SEPAR, there have been no major changes in state-level anti-smoking legislation for fifteen years. For example, the regulatory reform that planned to ban smoking on terraces has been stalled in parliamentary processing following the early elections. The study says that in 2024 the percentage of people who considered themselves passive smokers rebounded for the first time since these laws have existed, reaching 23.8%.

"It seemed interesting" to review the situation and know what the current exposure to tobacco smoke is, said the director of the SEPAR Smoking Research Program and co-author of the study, Juan Antonio Riesco, in a press conference. According to the results of this new study, between 2011 and 2024, the number of passive smokers in common indoor spaces (home, work, schools, and indoor leisure) has risen to 23.8%. And if terraces are included in the overall count, the percentage of declared exposure climbs to 54.9%. Therefore, more than half of non-smoking adults declare they are forced to breathe tobacco smoke when on a terrace because, as they are outdoor spaces, they are not subject to legislative restrictions.

"Tobacco smoke is not only harmful, but it causes cancer and, in people suffering from asthma, with previous pathologies, or pregnant women, it can aggravate the disease or cause complications," states the head of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program and head of the Tobacco Control Unit of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Cristina Martínez. Beyond the analysis of the perception of exposure to tobacco smoke conducted by SEPAR, the expert emphasizes that previous studies have detected indicators of tobacco smoke contamination, such as particles and nicotine in the air, in 90% of the terraces analyzed in Barcelona.

However, according to the 2025 Spanish Health Survey (ESdE 2025), prepared by the Ministry of Health and the National Statistics Institute (INE), daily tobacco consumption in Spain has decreased to 15.4% of the population aged 15 or over, the lowest level in the entire historical series. The percentage has been reduced to less than half since 1993, when it stood at 32.1%. In Catalonia, this survey says that 15.37% of the population smokes daily, a proportion similar to the national average, but the percentage is rising compared to 2023 (13.8%). In fact, one of the main objectives of the Generalitat's new health plan for 2030 is to place tobacco consumption below 15% of the Catalan population.

New risks among young people

For the study's lead author, Carlos Jiménez-Ruiz, a pulmonologist and president of SEPAR between 2018 and 2021, these data reflect that anti-smoking laws "achieved a significant reduction in smoking in all areas" but, currently, "passivity in compliance with the law, the lack of updating of regulations, and the emergence of new ways of smoking are relaxing people's attitude" toward this habit. Martínez agrees, highlighting in statements to ARA that anti-smoking regulations need to be updated. "We are in a country with high exposure to tobacco smoke, especially in leisure and transit spaces: on terraces, at entrances to buildings or airports, many smokers congregate, and these are public spaces where people spend quite a lot of time," he explains.

In view of these data, experts recommend extending the smoking ban to terraces and school environments, equating vapers and electronic devices with classic tobacco, raising taxes on these products, strengthening inspection, and funding treatments to quit smoking. In other words, a battery of measures that are included in the anti-tobacco law reform approved by the council of ministers, but which has now been paralyzed by the early call for elections. "We had high hopes for this reform, because there was a lot of harmony between the authorities and the policymakers with the experts," points out Martínez, who adds that now there is a certain degree of uncertainty about the future of this regulation.

The SEPAR report also focuses on the impact of new forms of tobacco consumption, such as vapers and heated tobacco devices, especially among young people. These products—which tobacco multinationals have promoted as a healthier alternative to reach above all young people and adolescents—may be perceived as less harmful than conventional cigarettes because there is no combustion, but they are not innocuous and can pose risks to health. The products mostly contain nicotine, which is why they can generate dependence, and are associated with a higher probability of starting the consumption of conventional tobacco. "There is an international trend towards new forms of nicotine consumption among young people, with synthetic substances, which is also happening in our country," insists Martínez.

Regarding the possible clash that may arise from expanding the anti-tobacco law with new prohibitions and the individual freedom to smoke, Jiménez-Ruiz is clear: "Smoking is a chronic addictive disease that kills more than a thousand people a week and 56,000 every year and is the leading cause of death. Freedom has nothing to do with the disease".