Tobacco.org

• Health Ministry inspections reveal success of anti-tobacco legislation in Andalucia 

THE Regional Health Ministry carried out inspections of more than 1,600 establishments in the province of Almeria in 2008. The inspections, the numbers of which have been boosted by the need to meet the provisions of the anti-tobacco laws, are far in excess of the 64 establishments inspected in 2007. Nearly 90 per cent of all the establishments visited since January 2006 were found to have complied with the anti-tobacco law, in relation to which a total of 198 formal complaints have been submitted in the province since it came into effect, resulting in 32 penalties being issued. Before the anti-tobacco law came into effect, the Regional Health Ministry organized the ‘Integral Plan to Prevent Nicotine Poisoning’ (PITA), which includes 85 measures aimed at discouraging the smoking habit among teenagers and helping those who want to give up smoking. One of the measures included in the plan is the increase in health resources available in Andalucia to help those citizens who want to quit smoking.

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