The European Union has decided to back more vigorous anti-smoking campaigns, with all European countries now required to increase the size of health warnings on cigarette packets and include photographs of diseased lungs, mouths, and teeth on the cartons.
The grisly images are already present in some forward-thinking nations, though the new legislation will see them enforced across the entire EU from 2016 onwards. The enlarged picture warnings will need to cover at least 65% of the carton surface, a dramatic increase from current packets with little or no photographic warning. The revamped EU Tobacco Directive also includes stringent legislation around the use and sale of e-cigarettes, in a similar vein to recent developments in certain U.S. states. The strengthened regulation of e-cigarettes will see the products sold as either quitting aids or simply as tobacco products. The nicotine content is required to top out at 20 mg per ml, and e-cigarettes will carry comparable health warnings.
The legislation, in its current draft incarnation, was voted on by health ministers from across the EU. An overwhelming 514 votes in favor of the changes won out, with just 66 against and 58 ministers abstaining from casting a vote.
The legislation also includes a ban on several flavored tobacco products, with the more palatable options seen as a likely gateway for young adults to begin smoking. Similarly, menthol products will also be banned, though completion of the phase out process is not required until 2020. "This is the culmination of years of work against the background of intense lobbying from the tobacco industry and its front groups," said Linda McAvan, British rapporteur and Member of European Parliament (MEP). "The new measures are a big step forward for tobacco control, and will help to prevent the next generation of smokers from being recruited. We know that it is children - not adults - who start to smoke: the overwhelming majority of smokers start before their 18th birthday."
Smaller 'lipstick-style' packs, designed to be carried in women's purses, will also be banned, due to their size. Under the new legislation, cigarette packets must hold at least 20 cigarettes in order to accommodate a large enough photographic warning to deter smokers and potential smokers alike. Promotional language is also banned, such as products that claim to be free of additives.
An approximate 28 percent of the EU's 500 million residents are smokers, though the number has fallen in recent years. However, the habit still eventuates in around 700,000 deaths per year, and incurs annual costs of around 25 billion euros ($34 billion).
The move has been warmly welcomed by health authorities across Europe, though tobacco industry executives and lobbyists have condemned the decision, saying it comes at a detriment to the economy. "This will be a blow to the hundreds of thousands of people working in the legal industry and member state governments now faced with filling budget gaps," said Drago Azinovic of Philip Morris International Inc, the parent company of several cigarette brands.
