Byrne aiming for worldwide ban on tobacco advertising

Date: 06/02/03

By David Cronin

THE European Commission is pushing for a global ban on tobacco advertising to be introduced this year, despite entrenched opposition from the US, Japan and Germany.

David Byrne, the commissioner for health and consumer protection, said such a measure would be vital to "deglamorize tobacco" and convince young people that smoking does not make them more attractive.

He singled out a proposed ban as the single most important measure advocated by the Commission in a submission it has been made to the World Health Organization (WHO).

"The tobacco industry is ruthlessly targeting the bright aspirations of a new generation," he told a Brussels conference on tobacco consumption in poor countries. "We have to fight the deadly glamour of its publicity machine."

Some 165 nations are currently taking part in the final round of negotiations aimed at securing an international convention on tobacco control. The WHO hopes this can be unveiled at the next session of its governing assembly, which opens in Geneva on 19 May.

Byrne argues that US opposition to including an advertising ban in the convention sits uneasily with the rising anti-smoking sentiment in that country. "Smoking has acquired an image among young people in the United States as being a loser's way of life," he said.

The WHO estimates that smoking and AIDS are the fastest growing causes of death in the world.

Nearly 5 million deaths per annum are attributed to cigarettes and if current trends continue that figure could double by 2020, the WHO says, with 70% of those deaths occurring in developing countries.

Gro Harlem Bruntland, the outgoing WHO director-general and former Norwegian premier, described the EU's policy on tobacco as "forward-looking and informed", arguing the Union is "taking seriously the long-term consequences for humanity".

Byrne also said the Commission wished to cease paying farm subsidies for tobacco production in the Mediterranean. He regretted, however, that the European Parliament and Council of Ministers have declined to back a Commission proposal for eliminating such payments

The European Commission is pushing for a global ban on tobacco advertising to be introduced in 2003, despite entrenched opposition from the US, Japan and Germany.