A further tightening on smoking is on the way to “create a ‘tobacco-free generation’, in which less than 5% of the population consumes tobacco by 2040”. The Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, intends to do so by applying new restrictions, such as the ban on smoking even outdoors in the presence of minors and pregnant women. There are also bans on e-cigarettes.
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Cigarettes, Schillaci: “No smoking even outdoors”
After years of battles, the long-awaited anti-smoking law arrived, but then the electronic cigarette called everything into question. The Minister of Health, however, said he was ready to revolutionize the rules on smoking. In a hearing before the Social Affairs Commission of the Chamber, Schillaci announced that he intends to “propose the updating and extension of article 51 of law 3/2003 (Sirchia law against smoking, ndr) to extend the ban on smoking to other outdoor places in the presence of minors and pregnant women”. Furthermore, it intends “to eliminate the possibility of equipping smoking rooms in closed rooms”.
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Smoking ban also applied to the electronic cigarette
That’s not all, the minister announced a tightening on electronic cigarettes, given that over the years they have increasingly taken the place of traditional cigarettes. The new measures will have to take into account “the constantly growing market diffusion of new products, such as e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products, and the growing body of evidence on their possible harmful effects on health,” he said. Schillaci would like to “extend the ban also to the emissions of new products such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products and extend the advertising ban to new products containing nicotine”.
“Given the worrying diffusion of unhealthy lifestyles – Schillaci commented – I intend to tackle the prevention and fight against smoking, which is still the main cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in Italy” to “achieve the objective of the European Plan against cancer 2021 to create a ‘tobacco-free generation’, in which less than 5% of the population use tobacco by 2040”.