Reacción a "A study highlights the number of passive smokers and exposure to smoke on outdoor terraces in Spain"

The article, which has just been published in Tobacco Control, presents the results of a series of four surveys carried out between 2005 and 2024 to assess exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke in different settings, based on information reported by the respondents. Although these surveys were conducted on smaller samples than those used in other studies, such as the European Health Survey in Spain, the results obtained demonstrate once again the positive impact of the tobacco legislation passed in Spain in 2005 and 2010, which completely banned smoking in most enclosed public spaces and whose impact extended to unregulated settings such as the home, thereby helping to reduce the harmful effects of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.

The researchers particularly emphasise the fact that the study shows a slight increase in the proportion of people who reported being exposed to second-hand smoke in different settings in 2024 compared with 2011. This apparent rise in exposure could be due to methodological limitations or simply chance, as it does not reach the level of statistical significance. Furthermore, various health surveys carried out in our country show a sustained trend towards a reduction in exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke. There is also ample evidence that the significant positive effects on public health brought about by tobacco regulations in the first decade of this century in Spain need to be sustained through the introduction of new regulations, which will help to increase the price of tobacco and nicotine products, enable plain packaging to be finally introduced in our country, expand smoke-free and nicotine-aerosol-free areas, and improve the regulation of the new products that multinational tobacco companies have been promoting, particularly amongst young people and adolescents.