WRITTEN QUESTION E-1829/99

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Council

(15 October 1999)

Subject: Smoking as a cause of ill-health in the world and EU policy

Apart from causing cancer, fatal heart disease and a host of other illnesses, smoking is now being blamed for male impotence in smokers between the ages of 21 and 75, according to studies by the BMA. At the same time, research by the Athens Medical School has revealed that medical students are unaware of the harmful effects of smoking and that one in two smokes regularly. It should be pointed out that in Greece alone the number of young smokers increases by some 50 000 a year. In the EU the tobacco industry spends as much in one day alone on advertising its products as is spent in one year on information campaigns against smoking.

In view of the above, will the Council say: What action is it taking, what resources does it have available and what policy is it pursuing in order to address the prime cause of ill-health that can be tackled and protect the health of European citizens and young people in particular?

Reply

(13 March 2000)

Community action in this field complements the action taken by Member States. Within the framework of the powers granted to it, the Community pays particular attention to combating smoking and treats it as a priority.

Since 1986, various measures to combat cancer, and more recently the action plan to combat cancer adopted in 1996 and currently underway, have provided for specific steps to combat smoking. Similarly, the action programme on health promotion, information, education and training also targets tobacco abuse. It is planned to incorporate all vertical programmes in the field of health into the framework programme on health to be proposed to the European Parliament and the Council in the first quarter of the year.

Moreover, the Council, acting on proposals from the Commission, has already adopted, in 1989 and 1990, internal market Directives on labelling and tar yield, which do much to further that objective. Furthermore, a proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council was forwarded to those bodies on 7 January 2000. That Directive concerning the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States regarding the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products is currently being examined.

More recently, on 6 July 1998, the Council, jointly with the European Parliament, adopted Directive 98/43/EC relating to the advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products, which is due to enter into force on 30 July 2001 at the latest. This Directive should have a particular impact on the young.

Since 1994, the Council has established, in the context of the Regulation on the common organisation of the market in raw tobacco, a Community fund financing tobacco research and information, half the resources of which are assigned to information projects on the dangers of smoking, aimed primarily at young people.

Finally, further to the Commission's communication of December 1996 on the present and proposed Community role in combating tobacco consumption and the Commission's September 1999 report to the Council and the European Parliament on progress achieved in relation to public health protection from the harmful effects of tobacco consumption, the Council at its meeting on 18 November 1999, adopted conclusions on combating tobacco consumption and held a policy debate focusing particularly on protecting young people from the harmful effects of tobacco consumption and on the European Union's action in the international context.

This was an open debate.

Regarding the external angle, on 22 October 1999 the Council adopted a Decision authorising the Commission, for matters falling within the sphere of Community competence, to open negotiations, in the context of the World Health Organisation, on an International Framework Convention for Tobacco Control and related protocols.