Health chief calls for tough new controls on tobacco

Date: 28/10/1999

By Peter Chapman

HEALTH Commissioner David Byrne will next month propose tough new EU-wide legislation to govern the content, labelling and sale of cigarettes in a bid to reduce the death toll from tobacco-related illnesses.

If approved by EU governments, the new rules would deal yet another blow to an industry still reeling from the Union's decision to ban tobacco advertising from 2001.

Under Byrne's plan, the current maximum levels of tar in cigarettes would be reduced from 12 milligrammes to 10 and limits on nicotine and other noxious substances, including carbon monoxide, would be introduced.

The Commissioner also wants to make it illegal for cigarettes to be sold to youngsters below a certain age, almost certainly 16, across the Union, although member states would have the right to maintain or introduce even tougher national rules.

At present, some countries have no limit while most others set it at 16.

Byrne will also call for tighter controls on the positioning of vending machines to prevent under-age youngsters from buying cigarettes, new rules to make the health warnings on packets clearer, and moves to ensure manufacturers disclose all the ingredients in their cigarettes to national health authorities.

Byrne's aides say the proposal will consolidate three separate tobacco directives regulating labelling, setting tar levels and banning oral tobacco into one. They add the Commission has been encouraged by EU health ministers and MEPs to use this opportunity to introduce tougher rules to combat smoking, which is estimated to have caused a quarter of the 933,000 cancer deaths in the EU in 1995. “The Parliament and the Council of Ministers are very attracted to having a revision,” said one.

The huge sensitivity of the issue is underlined by the fact that representatives of the major Brussels-based tobacco industry lobby groups have refused to comment publicly on the proposals until they have been discussed by the full Commission early next month.

They would only say that the industry was “still working with the Commission on the contents of the proposals”.

But Andrew Hayes, president of the European Public Health Alliance, welcomed the initiative.

He said the proposal to cut tar levels was in line with the recommendations of respected EU cancer experts. He also heralded the plan to force firms to reveal what other ingredients they put into products, pointing out that companies often put sweeteners and flavourings into cigarettes - mainly in 'light' brands - to make them more palatable to customers who might otherwise give up or resist the temptation to start smoking.

“Young women are particularly tempted to smoke them. But these additives mean they can draw the smoke deeper into their lungs,” he added.

Hayes acknowledged that the list of ingredients would be too long to fit on packets, but said the information could be used by national authorities in their health campaigns.

Byrne's draft proposals have now been circulated to other Commission departments and insiders say they could be watered down before they are finally approved by the College.

But Hayes said the promises already made by the new Commission would make it difficult for the institution to reject the initiative. “When Romano Prodi took the job of Commission president in July, he said he was going to put public health at the top of his agenda. He is going to have to put his money where his mouth is,” he insisted.

The move comes as the European Commission prepares for negotiations on a World Health Organisation treaty, expected to be finalised in 2003, which could include a global ban on tobacco advertising, increased taxes, better labelling and tougher rules to thwart smugglers.