Region’s MEPs urged to cut appeal of smoking – European Tobacco Procucts Directive
Health campaigners are urging the North East’s three MEPs to back new proposals in the European Parliament to make smoking history for more children in the North East.
Fresh is joining calls from organisation such as Cancer Research UK for MEPs to back measures in the European Tobacco Products Directive to reduce the appeal of tobacco and cigarettes and stop tens of thousands of children a year from becoming addicted.
On Tuesday 8th October, MEPs will have the opportunity to vote in plenary on the revised EU Tobacco Products Directive – a set of rules covering all member states. They will vote on a series of measures passed by the EU’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee in July, which include:
• large pictorial health warnings covering 75% of the front and back of all tobacco products
• a ban on ‘slim’ cigarettes and cigarette packs (sometimes called ‘lipstick’ or ‘perfume’ packs) which have been attacked by doctors and MPs in the North East for encouraging young women to smoke
• a ban on flavours such as menthol, strawberry, vanilla which act as a gateway to smoking among children as they hide the taste
• strong, independent controls against counterfeiting and the illicit trade
• the regulation of e-cigarettes as medicines to ensure safety, quality, introduce age of sale laws and ensure they cannot be promoted to children
• allowance for EU Member States to introduce further measures independently (e.g. plain, standardised packaging)
Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt has written to all MEPs urging them to back the Directive to improve public health and protect young people from the harms of tobacco. The previous Directive published in 2001 introduced new health messages to be put on tobacco products and dramatically increased the size of the warnings, including picture warnings.
Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh, said: “The Directive represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reduce the harm caused by tobacco and remove some of the temptations employed by the industry to hook new customers in their teens on a deadly addiction.
“The tobacco multinationals have lobbied furiously against these laws and there is a real risk they could be delayed. That is why we are urging MEPs from the North East to do something fantastic for the health of generations to come.”
Dr Jean King, Director of Tobacco Control at Cancer Research UK said: “The latest research provides further evidence that the more attractive the tobacco packaging, the more likely children are to be tempted to light up their first cigarette – the first step to a deadly addiction which will kill half of them if they become long-term smokers. We know how important the tobacco products directive is and we are asking all MEPs to support it.”
Tobacco kills over 650,000 Europeans each year and 1,800 Europeans every day; the equivalent of three jumbo jets crashing each day in the EU. In the North East, around 9,000 children a year start smoking.
The estimated annual cost of tobacco to the European economy is of more than half a trillion euros, or about 4.6% of the EU’s GDP. Furthermore, close to 13 million people in the 27 countries of the EU suffer from smoking-related diseases, with devastating effects on economies, societies, and healthcare systems – Study on liability and health costs of smoking produced for the European Commission (DG SANCO, 2012).