Spain planning controversial ban affecting thousands of UK tourists 'within weeks'

New health rules in Spain will have the biggest impact on people who smoke or vape

Spain's Ministry of Health is planning a major overhaul in the coming weeks, with one of the key focuses being to crack down on smoking and vaping.

The Spanish government has announced plans to ban disposable electronic cigarettes, or vapes, as well as vape flavours. Conventional tobacco products will also be subjected to new rules and must be sold in general packaging.

The measures are part of an Anti-Tobacco Plan, which aims to limit products that cause a risk to young people's health and represent a 'gateway' into smoking.

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Millions of UK tourists visit Spain on holiday each year, many of them smokers and vapers. According to data collected by YouGov, 5.6 million adults in Britain vape, which represents around 11% of the adult population.

The Anti-Tobacco Plan includes measures to expand the number of places where smoking is prohibited, increase taxes on tobacco products and put vapers on the same footing as conventional smokers.

There has also been a controversial recommendation that smoking should not be allowed in vehicles carrying children or pregnant women. However, the government has acknowledged that similar proposals have been met with huge opposition in the past, and that an all-out ban would be difficult to enforce.

The Spanish government also recently shared plans to regulate the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, with a draft regulation set to be published soon.

New health plans in Spain also look set to tackle a 'legal loophole' that means hospitals can refuse to perform abortions by declaring themselves as 'objectors'. A new registry aims to prevent entire hospital units from declaring themselves as objectors and ensure 'no community can rely on this legal loophole' to deny women access to safe and legal abortions, said Health Minister Monica Garcia.