600,000 Spaniards quit smoking in 2011

Around 600,000 Spaniards quit smoking over the last year as a result of the anti-tobacco law that came into effect at the start of 2011, local report said on Monday. The 2011 anti-tobacco law made it illegal to smoke in bars and restaurants in Spain, as well as in areas such as children's playgrounds and outside of hospitals. The National Committee for the Prevention of Tobacco (CNPT) said this regulation has led to 600,000 Spanish people giving up smoking, a fact confirmed by the Commission for the Tobacco Market (CMT), which said tobacco sales have fallen by 17 percent over the last year. It was estimated that 53,000 Spanish smokers die as a result of their habit every year, while over 3,200 non-smokers were victimized due to their exposure to smoke. In a country where around 28 percent of the population smokes, it is an average of 153 deaths per day caused by tobacco. The President of the CNPT, Francisco Rodriguez Lozano commented that the effect of the anti-tobacco law had been "very positive" from public health point of view. Meanwhile there has been a large reduction in the number of young smokers. The adolescent population who smokes almost halved from 21.5 percent in 2004 to 12.3 percent in 2011. The new government of Mariano Rajoy said that it has no plans to alter the anti-tobacco law in the immediate future.