Smoking rates in Spain have fallen significantly in recent decades (File)
Madrid, Spain:
Spain’s government on Tuesday approved a decree banning the sale of flavored heated tobacco products as part of efforts to curb tobacco use, the Health Ministry announced.
Heated tobacco products (HTPs) use high heat to release nicotine from tobacco leaves through a process called pyrolysis, but this process does not involve igniting or burning the tobacco leaves, resulting in no smoke. can be avoided.
E-cigarettes, an increasingly popular alternative to traditional cigarettes, are often confused with electronic cigarettes, which heat a liquid that may contain nicotine but do not contain tobacco leaves.
The Ministry of Health said in a statement that the legislation requires the same health warnings as other tobacco products to be displayed on the packaging of heated tobacco products.
The use of flavors in other tobacco products, such as cigarette filters and rolling papers, is also prohibited by law.
Although the prevalence of smoking in Spain has decreased significantly in recent decades, the number of regular smokers remains high.
According to the latest statistics from the World Health Organization, around one in four adults in Spain (26%) use tobacco daily, compared to a global average of 22.3%.
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