5 June Health Council

Date: 12/06/1997

AGREEMENT on the long-stalled proposal to ban tobacco advertising moved closer when the new UK government confirmed it would support the plan. UK Minister Tessa Jowell said she was “committed to banning tobacco advertising as an essential first step”, but stressed that there were unresolved legal questions about the scope of the directive, “as well as practical issues, such as the impact on sports if it is agreed that a directive should extend to sports sponsorship”. Health Commissioner Padraig Flynn welcomed the UK's change of heart and hinted that the Commission would be prepared to show some flexibility. “I would not of course exclude the possibility of a phased approach to the elimination of such practices,” he said. Commission officials suggested that the Netherlands, which has consistently opposed the directive, might go along with it if the UK changed its mind. Denmark's resistance was also thought to be weakening.

Only Germany and Greece remain firmly against the plan. Luxembourg Minister Johny Lahure said the issue would be a priority for the country's EU presidency in the second half of the year.

A BRIEF debate on Flynn's communication on other ways to reduce smoking revealed that ministers were particularly concerned to control the habit among young people and to protect non-smokers from the effects of smoking in the workplace.

THE Council asked the Commission to prepare a report on the quality and safety of organs and tissues of human origin used for medical purposes.

This will concentrate on three main points: the legal situation; cooperation with international organisations such as the Council of Europe and the World Health Organisation; and current practice on traceability in different member states.

MINISTERS agreed to set up a network to monitor contagious diseases, despite Commission objections. Dutch Minister Els Borst-Eilers found a compromise between the need to protect public health and the desire of member states to retain national control in the sector. The Commission claimed the deal watered down its proposals too much. It had suggested a compulsory system for sharing data on communicable diseases. But some countries were fiercely opposed to harmonising national rules.

MINISTERS adopted a resolution on doctors moving between member states, asking the Commission to look at measures to make it easier for them to carry out their profession freely, and to study ways of improving the exchange of information between governments. The UK withheld its support, pending parliamentary examination of the resolution.

THE meeting welcomed recent changes inside the Commission in the wake of the 'mad cow' crisis. Ministers stressed that it was vital to continue monitoring any new cases of BSE and its human equivalent Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease carefully and to hold a public debate on the future of food safety in the EU.

FOLLOWING conciliation talks with the European Parliament, the Council formally adopted the 1997-2000 health monitoring programme. The budget was fixed at 13.8 million ecu.

FLYNN informed ministers of the progress being made in the EU-US task force on transmissible diseases. Two sessions have already been held and a third is planned for October this year. Flynn also presented the Council with three Commission proposals for action programmes on rare diseases, the prevention of injury and illnesses linked to pollution.

FINLAND asked for reinforced efforts to improve coordination in the field of mental health. France reiterated its concerns about the safety of medical equipment and Sweden called for measures to control the marketing of so-called 'alcopops'.