Battle hots up over warnings on cigarettes

Date: 01/06/2000

By Rory Watson

A FIERCE lobbying campaign is under way in the wake of calls from the European Parliament's environment committee for tougher health warnings, with graphic photographs, on cigarette packets to alert the public to the dangers of smoking.

The proposals adopted by the committee last week, which will be voted on by the full Parliament on 14 June, demand that 40% of the front of cigarette packets and 50% of the back be devoted to health warnings. This would be sufficient for governments to insist that manufacturers display hard-hitting colour pictures showing the impact of tobacco on unborn babies and on the human heart, lungs, brain and sexual prowess.

Health-conscious MEPs are also pressing for a ban on terms such as 'low tar', 'mild' or 'light', which they believe are misleading, and for details of all 200 chemicals used in tobacco products to be made publicly available.

The proposed warnings are the brainchild of UK Liberal MEP Chris Davies and are modelled on legislation which Canada will implement later this summer. "Governments must ensure that the health warnings are as explicit as possible so that no one can pretend that they do not know the risks," he insisted.

This was echoed by Dutch Liberal MEP Jules Maaten, the Parliament's rapporteur on the issue. "Up to 1,400 people die every day as a result of smoking-related disease. People have the right to choose whether or not to smoke, but no longer must there be any attempt to disguise the health implications," he said.

MEPs will come under intense pressure from both sides in the argument to support their case in the run-up to the plenary vote. Tobacco firms are already calling on parliamentarians to water down the proposals, but the measures are equally fervently supported by groups such as ASH - Action on Smoking and Health - and the International Union against Cancer.

A fierce lobbying campaign is under way in the wake of calls from the European Parliament's environment committee for tougher health warnings, with graphic photographs, on cigarette packets to alert the public to the dangers of smoking.