¿Por qué nosotros no? Acción Ciudadana por la Salud y el cambio de la Ley Española de Tabaco

Implementation of Smoke-Free Legislation Reduces the Number of Acute Myocardial Infarctions by 11 Percent

22/02/2013 ScienceDaily

Jan. 23, 2013 — Researchers participating in the REGICOR Study (Girona Heart Registry)* have carried out a study to assess the impact of the partial smoke-free legislation passed in 2006 on the incidence of acute myocardial infarction in the province of Girona and observed it has dropped 11%. This decrease has been noticed especially among women, population aged between 65 and 74, and among non-smokers.

Researchers analysed data from 3,703 infarctions occurred in Girona between the years 2002 and 2008 and studied whether the number of infarctions had dropped during the period 2006-2008 (after the implementation of the law) compared to the data from the period running from 2002 to 2004 (before the law was in place). According to Irene Roman, researcher in the cardiovascular epidemiology and genetics research group at IMIM and one of the first signatories of the article, "the data from the study show that the total number of infarctions occurring in the population (whether they were treated in hospital or not) has dropped 11% in the period after the ...

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... implementation of the law (2006-2008)."

Another important point is that this reduction has been observed basically among the group of non-smokers (-15%) and people aged over 65 (-18%). This, according to Roberto Elosua, the coordinator for research in cardiovascular epidemiology and genetics at IMIM, suggests that "the population group that has benefited the most from the law passed in 2006 is that of non-smokers, since their passive exposure to tobacco smoke has decreased."

Coronary heart disease occurs when not enough blood reaches the heart to supply its muscle cells, and is the main cause of death in industrialised countries. In Spain, the most recent statistics show that this disease in 2011 caused 35,268 deaths (9.2% of the total) and 52,725 patients were taken to hospital with an acute myocardial infarction, which is one of the most severe consequences of coronary heart disease. Besides the impact this has on the health of individuals, acute myocardial infarctions have a huge economic impact on society, with an estimated annual cost in Spain of around 1.46 billion Euros.

One of the main risk factors causing acute myocardial infarctions is smoking. In Spain, around 30% of the adult population state they are smokers; even if this percentage has dropped slightly, it continues to be high and has a great impact on cardiovascular health. It is estimated that smoking is the reason behind 20% of the burden of heart disease in European countries, and that passive exposure to tobacco smoke causes around 2,500 of the deaths due to coronary heart disease (7%) in Spain.

Spain has passed two smoke-free legislations: one in December 2005 (Law 28/2005), which entered into force on January 1st 2006; and another one in December 2010 (Law 42/2010) which entered into force on January 1st 2011. The first of these two laws was considered a partial smoke-free law since besides regulating the selling and advertising of tobacco, it banned smoking in the workplace and in hospitality establishments larger than 100 m2 (unless a specific smoking area was created). However, in hospitality establishments smaller than 100m2 it was left to the discretion of the owner of these establishments. In the law of 2011, smoking was banned in all public places.

At present, the effect of the smoke-free legislation which entered into force 2011 is yet to be studied; however, according to researchers, results seen from the partial smoking ban in public places would support the effectiveness of this type of legislation in reducing the burden of disease among the population.

* with the participation of IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) from Barcelona, the Josep Trueta Hospital, the Blanes Hospital and IDIAP Jordi Gol from Girona (Primary Healthcare Research Institute)


Eurovegas casino project to be sited at Madrid town of Alcorcón

13/02/2013 José Marcos / Bruno García Gal

And the winner is… Alcorcón! The Madrid dormitory town on Friday was officially named as the site for US billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s controversial 750-hectare Eurovegas mega-casino complex.

Sheldon’s Las Vegas Sands chose Madrid over Barcelona for the project in September, but the actual area where it was to be built had not been decided on. Alcorcón, to the south of the capital, was preferred over the other suburban locations of Valdecarros, Torrejón de Ardoz and Paracuellos del Jarama.

Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands group will begin work on the first of three phases of the project this year, with the second to begin 18 months after the completion of the first. The whole project is due to be finished in 2017 at an investment of 6.75 billion euros, of which the US firm will put up between 35 and 45 percent. The rest will be funded by banks, of which at least one is expected to be Spanish.

The announcement was made at a news conference by Madrid regional premier Ignacio González with directors of Las Vegas Sands. González said a tender to acquire ...

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... the land for the project would be opened in the spring. The land earmarked for the project currently does not have the necessary zoning category, but the Madrid administration is sure it can overcome that problem, the premier added.

The first phase alone will create 40,000 direct jobs and 80,000, while the whole project could generate about a quarter of a million direct and indirect jobs, according to the regional government.

Las Vegas Sands’ chief operating officer and president, Michael Leven, said the first phase would involve the construction of four resorts, each with 3,000 rooms, as well as commercial, convention and leisure centers. He said the company hires 10,000 people directly at its Singapore complex. The vast majority of employees at the Eurovegas complex will be Spanish, he added.

Leven said that Adelson, who did not attend the news conference, had been dreaming of making this project in Madrid a reality for the past 12 years.

“This is a special and very important day for Madrid and Spain,” González told reporters. “This is an exciting and extraordinary project, the objective of which is to make Madrid the chief center for conventions in southern Europe.”

The Madrid assembly passed a special law in October of last year in order to meet a series of demands from Adelson, particularly in terms of tax treatment. The tax rate on winnings from gaming was reduced from 40 percent to 10 percent for the project, while there will be no limit on the height of the towers to be built on the site.

“From the tax point of view almost everything has been resolved apart from a few changes on the part of the central government,” González said. The premier said minors would continue to be barred from gambling, the proceeds from which he calculated would represent only 17 percent of the estimated revenues generated by the project.

Adelson has also asked for Spain’s blanket ban on smoking in public places to be lifted on the casino site. “The smoking issue is also the responsibility of the central government,” González said. “It will be working on the issue, which will be resolved in the next few months,” he said.


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