The Region of Murcia will not adhere to the Comprehensive Smoking Prevention and Control Plan 2024-2027. The regional government's spokesman, Marcos Ortuño, announced this Thursday that the Community “is not going to vote on the anti-smoking plan proposed by Pedro Sánchez's Government” because, in his opinion, “it is drafted without rigor and also lacks economic memory.” . The regional Executive thus ignores the calls for consensus from the main medical societies, which at the end of March endorsed the Ministry of Health document. The strategy was born with the support of scientists and experts, but without political agreement. The Region of Murcia follows in the wake of other communities governed by the PP that will not subscribe to the plan either.
Following Ortuño's statements, the Ministry of Health issued a statement in which it assured that “the Region does not cast a vote in any sense until the Ministry corrects the document and incorporates the economic measures necessary to develop strategies against smoking with guarantees.” But the plan is not actually subject to a vote. What the Ministry proposes to the communities is that they decide whether or not to adhere to the plan through the signing of a collaboration agreement. The regional government still does not clarify whether the rejection is total or if there will be some type of partial accession, a possibility that the Ministry has left open.
Councilor Marcos Ortuño defended that “the regional government's fight against tobacco consumption is unquestionable.” «In fact – he stated – we are one of the most restrictive communities; “We are in favor of creating smoke-free spaces, reducing tobacco consumption and promoting healthy lifestyle habits.” However, he rejected the plan because “we see a great hurry in Pedro Sánchez's Government to make an announcement, we see little work and we miss an economic report that is essential.” Ortuño accused the Minister of Health, Mónica García, of “having a clear intention to confront this issue” and assured that “the fight against tobacco consumption has to be outside of all confrontation and political debate.”
The rupture between the PP communities and the Ministry of Health places the plan precisely at the center of this confrontation. The national president of the Spanish Association against Cancer (Aecc), Ramón Reyes, made this Wednesday in Murcia a final call to the administrations to avoid this scenario. Asked if the climate of polarization could break the consensus around the plan, he responded: “I hope not, because we are talking about avoiding deaths, saving lives, protecting the most vulnerable groups from advertising. Therefore, I hope that common sense prevails in the parties. This cannot be an element of discussion due to political elements. We are risking our lives, this is about lives, so I understand that all parties have common sense to see that you cannot play with your life. “Playing with tobacco is playing with life.”
Listening to him at his side was the Health Minister, Juan José Pedreño, who did not clarify whether his department would support the plan. Finally he won't do it. The document does have the support of the Aecc. «We are super committed to the anti-smoking law. We are collaborating 100% with the Ministry to make this happen: to increase the price of tobacco, to regulate advertising and these products. [los vapeadores] “They cannot be sold in a supermarket nor can they be given to children,” stressed Ramón Reyes during his visit to Murcia.
Among those who also spoke out in favor of the plan is the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (Semfyc). «We are seeing how there is very significant pressure, both from economic groups and also from politics, to try not to advance in what is to improve the health of all citizens. As family doctors, it comforts us to be alongside an initiative of the Ministry that will contribute to improving the health of all Spaniards,” warned Asensio López, former managing director of the Murcian Health Service (SMS) and currently coordinator of the Semfyc Preventive Activities Program.
With or without support from the communities, the plan will reach the Interterritorial Council this Friday and will move forward. From its publication, the Ministry will have to develop in different laws the aspects that are contemplated, from the equation of vaping and electronic cigarettes with conventional tobacco to try to stop the increase in consumption in young people and adolescents to the prohibition of smoking in spaces such as hospitality terraces. There is also a commitment to increase the price of the packs. “Spain is the tobacconist of Europe,” warned the president of the Cancer Association this week during his visit to Murcia.
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