Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-13-Speech-2-087"
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"en.20000613.10.2-087"2
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"Mr President, today’s debate reminds me, word for word, of the debate we had at the second reading of the directive on the advertising of tobacco products. The same legal arguments are being used as a scapegoat by the very same Members of Parliament who, under cover of a putative sacrosanct legal coherence, are in fact defending vast financial interests.
I am sorry to see that over the years there has been no development in their arguments. I regret this all the more because now even the cigarette industry itself is tending to acknowledge the fact that this debate should be obsolete. Those who are now hypocritically rehashing yesterday’s legal arguments are taking part in an outmoded rearguard debate. From a legal point of view, the debate of the future is the one dealing with the court cases which we are starting to see in Europe.
How is it possible to weigh the financial interests of a number of industrialists against the devastating effects of tobacco consumption upon health? Every year, tobacco kills more people. And, in comparison with the restrictions we are subject to in the context of mad cow disease, how is it possible that we are doing nothing about the 500 000 smoking-related deaths every year in Europe? How is it possible not to shudder when thinking of our young people, our young women and our young mothers?
On the specific subject of agricultural subsidies in favour of tobacco production, I should like to see the European Union at long last adopting a consistent policy. It is not possible, on the one hand, to offer significant subsidies to tobacco production while, on the other hand, releasing ever inadequate funds to combat smoking and cancer. For years the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy has been denouncing these budget decisions. In terms of the common agricultural policy, new plans must be thought up with a view to finding alternative solutions for farmers.
I should like to see this directive apply to all tobacco products, not just cigarettes but also cigars, rolling tobacco and pipe tobacco for, while consumption of such products does not cause the same diseases, tobacco for oral use causes equally terrible devastation.
This directive will not, unfortunately, solve all the problems related to tobacco consumption, but it does at least aim to attempt to inform the consumer."@en1
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