The consumption of tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death worldwide. Smoking is implicated in various cancers, heart disease, stroke and lung diseases.
It is a fact that the vast majority of smokers start as teenagers, with two thirds being under 18, and continue as addicts- Franco Mercieca
According to the World Health Organisation, tobacco causes five million deaths a year worldwide and this is set to increase to eight million a year by 2030.
Epidemiological studies have shown that smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than non-smokers.
While the tobacco industry spends millions of euro every day on advertising, governments are paying millions of euro to curb its side effects in the form of lost productivity and healthcare services.
In 2008, the US Government’s costs related to first-hand cigarette smoking and passive smoking amounted to about $200 billion.
While the governments worldwide collect hefty amounts of money from tobacco taxes and respective legal settlements, unfortunately, only a very small percentage of this revenue is used on tobacco control programmes.
At times, one wonders why the authorities are sitting pretty while the tobacco industry is raking billions of euro while, on the other hand, billions of euro are being spent on lost productivity and healthcare expenses directly related to smoking.
Thus, as a medical professional and a parent, the apparent postponement of the revised Tobacco Products Directive is disconcerting.
In The Lancet (October 27), one of the leading medical journals worldwide, Martin McKee, secretary general of the European Public Health Alliance, which is representing the European Smoke Free Partnership, the Royal College of Physicians and the European Respiratory Society, expressed his disappointment that the Tobacco Products Directive was derailed.
This directive was due to be presented on October 22 with the aim of adopting the text by December 19. This has all gone up in smoke.
The proposed Tobacco Products Directive apparently had been devised on very sensitive internal documents owned by the tobacco industry, which were released under US court orders.
It had transpired that the tobacco industry manipulated the composition of cigarettes by adding flavours that would make them more attractive to children and changing the pH in order to increase the initiation of nicotine addiction. Also, more appealing packaging was boosting sales. It is a fact that the vast majority of smokers start as teenagers, with two-thirds being under 18, and continue as addicts. In the US, it is estimated that every single day more than 3,800 persons under 18 smoke their first cigarette.
It is quite clear that the tobacco industry marketing campaigns are targeting the most vulnerable teenage years.
According to a leaked advanced version of the Tobacco Products Directive, several important issues that are making the tobacco industry stronger and wealthier and, consequently, making the world population more sick, were being tackled.
The leaked data indicated that a range of flavourings were being banned, the size and appearance of the cigarettes were being standardized, restrictions on displays at point of sale were being enforced while larger graphic warnings were being placed on the cigarette packets.There was also an indication that the ban on smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes was being extended.
Unfortunately, action on the Tobacco Products Directive came to a halt for the reasons we are all too aware of.
A forced resignation, OLAF allegations, shady allegiances in all quarters and a series of high-tech professional burglaries from the anti-tobacco and public health organisations raise a lot of questions.
What we know for sure is that work on the directive came to a halt due to allegations by the Swedish tobacco company, Swedish Match, whose yearly turnover is about €400 million, even though its product is banned from use in EU countries, except for Sweden. It may be years till the whole truth is out and the allegations verified. The only victor in this John Grisham-thriller-like sequence of events has been the tobacco industry itself and it is now up to the European Commission to give a clear indication whose interests it is really promoting.
There is no reason to believe that the drafting of the Tobacco Products Directive was tampered with and, thus, the matter should swiftly pass to the next stage as soon as possible.
Waiting for the appointment of the new European Commissioner may lead to the said directive not being in place under the present European Parliament.
This prospect is worrying indeed as it may mean that the directive may never be presented or if presented may be weaker. Such delay will definitely be of benefit to the tobacco industry, not only through continued unhindered sales within the EU but also by delaying similar legislation in other parts of the world.
As a medical professional and a parent, my appeal is that the directive, which addresses one of the greatest threats to the health of all Europeans, is approved as soon as possible.
The author is a Labour Party candidate.