Never see you again, Mr. Adelson
While I was typing … Limitations in our study include the potential for response bias that could affect prevalence estimates of smoking, although self-reports on smoking …, focused on finding the right words for the discussion of the manuscript I was preparing during my last day retreat in Milan, the phone rang, and a friend of Materia gave me the big news: «Eurovegas not coming to Spain, have not you seen?». I knew nothing!
I think that we have not won the hand, but the game. It is a game we have won from various positions: the macro-complex game project had the opposition from different sectors and for different reasons. Too many threats from a single project: environmental negative impact, violations of labour rights, favoured treatment regarding taxes, wrong development culture based on construction, demands to all the public administrations involved … and what some health researchers have mainly dealt: the dangers to public health of one of the demands of Mr. Adelson.
Researchers in tobacco control, determined to investigate the best way to protect the population of smoking -because it is a public health problem- immediately took part. Both individually and through our scientific societies (such as the Spanish Society of Epidemiology and the Spanish Society of Public Health) and the National Committee for Smoking Prevention , along with citizens’ organizations, consumer groups, and trade unions. The change in the Smoke-free legislation that Adelson demanded would be a setback for the Spanish and global public health.
Re-opening the door to smoking in casinos could have serious implications: for workers and customers exposed to tobacco smoke in those enclose places, where the normal thing nowadays is not to smoke and to comply with a law that has been positive for all, including the hospitality sector that predicted severe economic losses. Moreover, the Spanish legislative experience (from a partial and ineffective law to a complete one) was and will remain an example of good practice of tobacco control for other countries. Such a threat prompted a large group of researchers from four continents to send a letter to the Prime Minister (published in Matter) warning that “a regressive change in the current Spanish smoke-free legislation would be a shortsighted initiative with long-term negative consequences for the health and the economy of Spain, and for global tobacco control».
Reasons to reject the Eurovegas project have been mainly economic. Sure. But we are convinced that we had to act from our academic position to give the necessary arguments from a public health position to prevent the regression of the smoke-free law. Never see you again, Mr. Adelson!
— Esteve Fernández , Scientist, Institut Català d’Oncologia. Associate Porfessor of Epidemiology & Public Health, Universitat de Barcelona. President-Elect of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology.
