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Date Published: 02/06/2023

Blue Flag award may only be awarded to smoke-free Spanish beaches

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Shorelines in Spain could be forced to ban cigarettes if they want to hold on to the prestigious award

Blue Flag award may only be awarded to smoke-free Spanish beaches

The Blue Flag award for beaches is a prestigious one in Spain, a rigorous process that only grants the honour to the most pristine shorelines with the best facilities. Now, the network of blue flags awarded in Spain by the Association for Environmental and Consumer Education (Adeac) is seemingly considering adding the criteria that a beach must be smoke-free in order to qualify.

How realistic this is remains to be seen but the Ministry of Health is certainly in favour, since it would be another step in the Inspira Saude Plan, whose aim is to reduce tobacco consumption in adults to 15% of the population by 2027.

According to the Ministry, at the end of 2021 almost 21% of people over 16 admitted to smoking regularly, a figure that increases to 21% in the 25 to 44 age group.

Galicia has led the way in regard to smoke-free beaches, banning cigarettes and other tobacco products on 214 of its strands in 80 municipalities. Lighting up is also prohibited in 18 public parks and the regional government is considering extending the measure to town squares, football fields, basketball courts, outdoor pools and even university campuses.

According to the regional health minister, Adeac is using the example of Galicia and considering only awarding Blue Flags to smoke-free beaches throughout Spain in the future.

The ban isn’t exclusive to Galicia, though. In Alicante, 44 of the province’s 81 beaches are now tobacco-free spaces and puffing is strictly banned on every shoreline in Barcelona city.

Most recently, the Balearic Islands prohibited smoking on no fewer than 28 of the hotspot’s beaches, including shores in Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca. The new “smoke-free zones” are primarily aimed at promoting public health but will also serve to clean up the resorts’ beaches from littered cigarette butts.

In other news: British man killed by tram in Barcelona

Image: Freepik

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