Spains gets tough on smokers

The current law prohibits smoking in the workplace but permits it in bars of less than 100 square meters 1,100 square feet and in restaurants with larger floor spaces that have specially adapted areas.

In practice,smoking has been permitted in almost every bar and restaurant in the country.

Hotels,however,will be allowed to set aside up to 30 percent of their rooms for smokers.

The restaurant and bar sector say the new measure will lead to some 145,000 job losses and a 10 percent drop in income.

The Health Ministry said similar bills in other countries did not lead to major job losses,bar closures or income cuts.

A Parliament health commission is expected to pass the legislation later Wednesday. It will then go for debate in the Senate. If the upper house introduces any changes,the bill must then go back to the lower house for final approval. The government hopes to have it in force by Jan. 2,2011.

The commission rejected a demand by the bar and restaurant federation to allow them to install specially isolated rooms for smokers within their premises.

This bill,like the current one,will ruin the sector, said federation president Jose Maria Rubio.

Salvador Chacon,34,who owns a small bar in central Madrid feared the worst.

The prohibition is going to have a big effect, he said.

Its as if this was becoming a dictatorship. Others looked forward to the change.

I dont smoke but I welcome this law, said 44-year-old Miguel Gonzalez as he sat in a Madrid bar.

Given the time I have spent in this bar,I think Im more of a smoker than a real smoker. The National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking says up to 1,000 Spanish bar waiters die yearly from lung cancer.