BELGIUM-: The European Commission wants larger health warnings on cigarette packs, ban on menthol and slim

Record ID: 861105

  • Title: BELGIUM-: The European Commission wants larger health warnings on cigarette packs, ban on menthol and slim
  • Date: 19th December 2012
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (RECENT) (REUTERS) EU COMMISSION BUILDING WITH EU FLAGS IN FOREGROUND EU FLAGS
  • Embargoed: 3rd January 2013 12:00
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  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA64L12DQR0ER9BYL8P25KGC8MN
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  • Story Text: The European Union proposed a near complete ban on branding on tobacco products on Wednesday (December 19), saying cigarette packs should reflect the deadly threat posed by smoking.
    If approved by EU member states and the European Parliament, 75 percent of the cigarette packets will be covered with visual and written warnings.
    Among the list of warnings that would have to be carried on cigarette packets are the phrases: "Smoking can kill your unborn child" and "Smoking increases the risk of blindness".
    EU governments will be free to go further and ban all branding if justified on public health grounds. Britain and France are among the countries considering the idea.
    EU health Commissioner Tonio Borg said the message has to be "shocking" to have an impact.
    "It is shocking but sometimes you need shocking pictures to shock people to stop smoking as well," Borg said.
    Borg drew a parallel with advertisement against drinking and driving, which use shock tactic too.
    The proposals from the European Commission would also ban slim cigarettes and flavourings such as menthol, which health experts say are designed to attract young smokers.
    "Cigarette packages therefore should, as I said, look like a tobacco product and not like a cosmetic or a candy. My aim here is that people can take an informed decision when they look at a pack of cigarettes, by getting the clear message that the products they buy harms their health," Borg explained.
    Borg said tobacco was the number one cause of premature death in Europe claiming 700,000 lives every year -- the size of a city like Frankfurt in Germany or Palermo in Italy.
    But the proposals stop short of the plain packaging imposed in Australia earlier this month and thus disappointed European Public Health Alliance, a network of NGOs and other non-profit organisations working in the field of public health in Europe.
    "We are a bit disappointed that plain packaging is not there, so we hope that now, the European parliament and the European council, member states, they will discuss about the possibility to include the plain packaging, make it mandatory to member states," European Public Health Alliance spokesperson Javier Delgado Rivera said.
    Fearing the impact that strict labelling restrictions will have on already dwindling EU cigarette sales, the tobacco industry has lobbied hard against the proposals over the two years it has taken to draw them up.
    Cigarette sales in the 27-nation EU bloc have fallen sharply in recent years - at about 33 percent - but Europe still has a higher proportion of smokers than any other region of the globe, according to data from the World Health Organization.
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