They attack the Health Department for its opposition to banning smoking on terraces: "It speaks the same way as the tobacco companies."

PalmThe association Nofumadores.org has accused the Minister of Health, Manuela García, of echoing the narrative of tobacco companies and associating with hospitality entrepreneurs by rejecting the ban on smoking on terraces.

The association's representative in the Balearic Islands, Salvador Tárraga, described García's statements as "serious," stating that the best solution is not a ban. The association recalled that, firstly, smoking on terraces is already prohibited in most cases, provided they are considered closed spaces and have more than two walls and a roof.

However, they warned the group that a rule with so many exceptions "leads to non-compliance and cunning." Therefore, they demanded a law "without exceptions," easy to understand and comply with, that protects the health of both customers and workers.

For the association, Manuela García incurs "in an obvious contradiction" when she claims to defend policies to curb tobacco consumption while opposing a ban on smoking on bar and restaurant terraces. In the words of the association's president, Raquel Fernández Megina, "the minister's discourse is indistinguishable from that of a spokesperson for tobacco companies or the hospitality industry, organizations that for years have acted as a transmission belt for the tobacco industry to block any legislative advance."

The organization has insisted that banning smoking on terraces is a matter of public health, not opinion, since exposure to second-hand smoke causes cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and there is no safe level of exposure. "In communities like the Balearic Islands, where the hospitality industry is an essential part of social life, keeping terraces smoke-free is key to protecting the population and denormalizing tobacco consumption," they concluded.