Dalli wants tougher rules to discourage smoking

EU Health Commissioner John Dalli said today that there was a need to revise EU legislation on tobacco products.

"Tobacco remains the single most preventable cause of premature death and disease in the European Union," the commissioner told a conference hosted by the Belgian Foundation against Cancer.

"13 million Europeans suffer from diseases related to tobacco smoking. This is more than the entire population of Hungary or the Netherlands, or Portugal.

"Just think how many deaths, how much suffering, and also how much money in treatment we could save, if people did not smoke."

He noted that the great majority of smokers start smoking when they are teenagers. In some Member States, a tird of 15 year old teenagers smokes.

His main concern, Mr Dalli said, was smoking by children and the factors which led them to start smoking.   

"We know that young people start smoking because they are led to think it’s cool. They go on smoking because tobacco is addictive. And later in life, they die out of smoking because tobacco is highly toxic.

"This is why our action needs to focus on young people."

He asked whether young people, when they looked at a packet of  cigarettes,  understood what the product was about.

"Do they get the right message about what this product can do to their health? and do they get a consistent message about the dangers of smoking?"

He said he did not think so.

"Our goal should be to ensure that tobacco products – cigarettes in particular - are produced and presented across the European Union in such a way, that they do not encourage or facilitate the uptake of smoking by young people. The key issue is indeed to reduce attractiveness of cigarettes.

"Cigarette packages are increasingly used as marketing tools. Slim, colourful, attractive packages are available on the market.

"Such appealing packaging can mislead people into believing that these products are harmless products like any other, when clearly they are not." 

Tobacco should not look like some harmless product; in particular when displayed next to normal consumer goods, often near sweets for example

Furthermore there were now vanilla flavoured and strawberry flavoured cigarettes that could make it easier to smoke earlier in life.

There were also pink coloured and slim shaped cigarettes that could make smoking appear much more alluring and seductive, in particular to girls.

"But tobacco is tobacco – even if it is presented in an appealing way.

"So we need to take further action to make tobacco less appealing – in particular to young people – and to ensure that people know exactly what they can expect from tobacco in terms of bad health.

"It is in this spirit that I am considering different possibilities to improve the rules on health warnings and packaging so that people get accurate, effective information about tobacco products."

Mr Dalli stressed that tobacco packages should look dissuasive, not appealing. When people look at a package of cigarettes, they need to get the message that the product can harm their health. 

"Tobacco should not look like some harmless product; in particular when displayed next to normal consumer goods, often near sweets for example."

He said he was considering how to regulate additives in tobacco products such as the flavours which could act as a strong magnet to young people.

He was also considering  possible ways of regulating access to tobacco in a more stringent manner to limit the exposure of minors to tobacco products.

Also under study were ways to address new types of nicotine products on the market, such as electronic cigarettes.

A revision of the Tobacco Products Directive is expected to be proposed by the end of this year.