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The Universitat de València and Spanish association “Contra el Cáncer Valencia” have signed a collaboration agreement to expand smoke-free spaces in the outdoor areas of the Blasco Ibáñez, Burjassot-Paterna and Tarongers university campuses. In a context in which the Valencian Community is the fourth autonomous region in Spain with the highest number of daily smokers, up to 870,000, of which 64,000 are under 25 years of age.
The Universitat de València and Spanish association “Contra el Cáncer Valencia” have signed a collaboration agreement to expand smoke-free spaces in the outdoor areas of the Blasco Ibáñez, Burjassot-Paterna and Tarongers university campuses. The aim is to protect non-smokers from tobacco smoke and e-cigarette aerosols, to discourage consumption among those who do smoke and to encourage them to quit.
In this way, the UV and the Association are joining forces in their strategy against smoking, which is responsible for one in three cancers. According to the Observatory of the Spanish association “Contra el Cáncer”, the Valencian Community is the fourth at national level, behind Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid. It has the highest number of daily smokers with 869,804 Valencians, of whom 63,828 are between 15 and 24 years old.
“Tobacco consumption is the main avoidable risk factor for cancer. In addition, vapes and new consumption devices are growing in popularity, especially among young people, which means inhaling toxic substances and carcinogenic compounds that are already causing lung diseases and could be the cause of various types of tumours, such as lung, kidney or bladder cancer. We need to protect young people and smoke-free spaces are one of the prevention strategies of the Association", explains the president of “Contra el Cáncer Valencia”, Tomás Trenor.
The principal of the UV, Mª Vicenta Mestre Escrivà, gave a speech about it. She started by highlighting the long history and well-known prestige of the Spanish Association “Contra el Cáncer”. "We are a university that had in Medicine one of its founding studies, and that has in Health Sciences a fundamental branch of its academic offer", said the full-time university professor of Basic Psychology; to add: "our commitment to people's health requires that we act to protect non-smokers and to raise awareness among those who are smokers about the consequences of a habit that, as science has shown overwhelmingly, is harmful to them and to those around them".
