EU tobacco rules with shock warnings to be adopted

New rules on the sale of tobacco including shocking health warnings on cigarette packets are set to be approved today by the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The new legislation is expected to strike out at smoking and give a serious blow to the tobacco industry.

Members of the European Parliament are expected to vote today for a law introducing prominent written health warnings on each cigarette packet and pictures designed to scare smokers. Under the new law, health warnings will cover more than 35 per cent of the cigarette packets, up from 4 per cent, which is the current EU minimum, and consumer information on tobacco product ingredients would be more accessible.

The new rules contain maximum levels for tar (10 mg), nicotine (1 mg) and carbon monoxide (10 mg) to be introduced by 1 January 2004 for cigarettes made in the EU for domestic consumption, and from 1 January 2007 for EU tobacco products manufactured for export. Cigarette descriptions such as mild or light will be banned from the end of September 2003.

As for the presentation, the new rules include a compulsory warning to cover one third of the front of the packet, "smoking kills", or "smoking seriously harms you and the others around you". There will also be an additional warning to cover 40 per cent of the back of the packet, which will be chosen from a list that the Commission will annex to the directive. Member states will also have the possibility of requiring the addition of graphic images illustrating lung diseases, heart problems, and cigarette-damaged teeth to the cigarette packets.

The directive is to be implemented by the end of September 2002. According to Labour MEP and health spokeswoman Catherine Stihler, quoted by BBC, the new law will alter the public perception of smoking forever: "smoking will never be the same again."

Smoking kills half a million people annually in the EU. Half of all premature deaths among lifelong smokers are due to tobacco, according to data from the European Parliament.