Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-14-Speech-1-036"
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"en.20010514.4.1-036"2
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"Mr President, in the time it takes me to make this speech an estimated four people will die in the EU as a result of smoking. Smokers are less long-lived and their health is less good. Smoking is therefore a serious threat to public health. Reason enough to discourage smoking then. However, many people already smoke. In Northern Europe these turn out to be people with low educational attainment and lower incomes. Because of the addictive effect giving up proves very difficult. Unfortunately it is still the case that many young people start smoking. The policy of tobacco manufactures expressly targets this market by giving cigarette smoking a tough and sporting image in advertising. Once the tobacco industry has won over a young person, it is generally assured of another regular customer. Customer loyalty is further strengthened by increasing the addictive effect through additives that facilitate the absorption of nicotine. In addition the tobacco industry tries, through the use of misleading messages like ‘mild’ and ‘light’, to create the impression that the tobacco products concerned are less harmful.
The directive at present being finalised is an adequate response to the above-mentioned problems. I should also like to thank Mr Maaten from this platform for his great commitment and for the result achieved. The Swedish Presidency also ensured that this file was processed quickly, for which it earns my praise.
However, when in December last year Parliament had approved 32 amendments on second reading, things looked very different. There were disappointed noises from the Council. Obviously it had not been expected that Parliament would want to change so much in the common position. Indeed, the Netherlands Minister of Health felt that the European Parliament was weakening the directive. However, I believe that most amendments were an improvement of the common position.
It is reprehensible that this Minister should have criticised the ‘questionable’ role of the European Parliament on the grounds that Parliament was dancing too much to the tune of the cigarette industry. It is true that the cigarette industry lobby was working flat out, but obviously with little success, and just as well too. The European Parliament even wanted to make the warning message on a packet of cigarettes more forceful by replacing the general warning ‘smoking kills’ or ‘smoking can kill’ with more confrontational texts like: In the EU half a million people die each year from the consequences of smoking, or smoking causes cancer and heart diseases or passive smoking is harmful to those around you, especially children. In fact that is more accurate, since no one dies immediately as a result of lighting up a cigarette. Unfortunately, however, these texts from the Council were not changed.
Other unhealthy results of smoking included blackened smokers’ lungs and rotten teeth. Therefore I see no objection to confronting smokers on cigarette packets with what they are doing to themselves and to their environment. It is precisely the intention that confrontation should have a preventive effect. I am therefore gratified that Council has adopted this idea from Parliament. I also support a ban on misleading messages, such as ‘mild’ and ‘light’.
Another positive point is that in the preamble attention is drawn to additives which heighten the addictive effect. Although an outright ban on the adding of ammonia or ammonia compounds would have been preferable.
Finally, Mr President, I again feel obliged to emphasise that European policy is inconsistent. On the one hand the use of tobacco is discouraged, on the other over EUR 1 billion is spent annually on tobacco subsidies. I feel that many more roll-ups will be made before these subsidies, which now simply go up in smoke, are reduced to zero."@en1
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