Tobacco crusade nets award for Byrne

Date: 19/06/03

DAVID Byrne has been honoured by the World Health Organization (WHO) for his tireless efforts to stop smoking from claiming countless lives.

The Irishman, who became the EU's health commissioner in 1999, received the WHO's director-general award for leadership in global tobacco control on Tuesday (17 June).

"WHO is very pleased to honour Commissioner Byrne today for his courage and relentless work," said Gro Harlem Brundtland, the outgoing director-general of the Geneva-based UN body.

"We salute him for his tremendous contribution towards European and global tobacco control," she said, adding that Byrne played a leading role in establishing the first global tobacco control treaty.

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control promotes advertising bans, larger health warnings on tobacco products and measures to protect people from the perils of secondhand smoke. It also proposes a tobacco tax, raisingcigarette prices and introducing legislation to eliminate illicit trade.

Byrne, along with Greek Health Minister Costas Stefanis, signed the convention on behalf of the EU this week.

He believes that "it is high time we put an end to this needless waste that claims the lives of eight people every minute around the world".

Last year, Byrne pushed through tough new EU laws, including directives banning tobacco advertising and regulating tobacco control products.

The upshot: the maximum tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide content for cigarettes will be restricted as of January 2004, health warnings will cover at least one-third of cigarette packs and misleading descriptions, such as "light" or "mild", will be banned.

Byrne has also initiated a pan-European anti-smoking campaign, under the slogan "Feel free to say no", targeted at the young.

According to WHO, no country in the European region has shown a significant decrease in smoking by adolescents since 1997. Byrne has also focused attention on the dangers of secondary smoke, emphasising that passive smoking accounts for between 30,000-50,000 deaths every year in the European Union.

David Bynre, European Commissioner for Health, has been awared the WHO's director-general award for leadership in global tobacco control.