The Government is actively considering suing tobacco firms to recoup millions of pounds spent on medically treating smokers for tobacco-related illnesses, the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, confirmed yesterday.
Litigation was recommended by the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, following the success of US states in winning multi-billion-dollar awards against the tobacco industry.
Mr Cowen said he has sought advice from the Attorney General on the matter. "We are actively looking at this issue. This is not a case of the Government being indifferent," he said. His Department was formulating a comprehensive response to the Oireachtas committee's report.
Tobacco-related diseases accounted for the premature deaths of more than 6,000 people annually in the State, the Minister told a conference yesterday which discussed ways of implementing the 211 recommendations of the Cardiovascular Health Strategy Group report, Building Healthier Hearts, published in July.
Smoking was a major contributory factor to cardiovascular disease in this State, Mr Cowen said. The report was the first attempt to tackle the problem in a multisectoral way, and the Government was committed to implementing its recommendations.
"This is a priority area for me because cancer and cardiovascular disease are the biggest two killers in Ireland," Mr Cowen said.
The recommendations will cost £150 million to implement over the next five years, and the Government has committed £70 million for the next three years. Some of this funding will be provided by a new levy on tobacco products or increased taxation.
Some 43 per cent of all deaths in Ireland, 13,541 people, were due to largely preventable cardiovascular diseases, Mr Cowen said. Coronary heart disease was the cause of over 20,000 hospital admissions annually, and also the reason for one in five GMS prescriptions, costing the Exchequer £44 million.
The high rate of cardiovascular disease also contributed to Ireland's low life expectancy which, at 65, was the lowest in the EU, Mr Cowen said. "The gap between Ireland the EU average is widening," he said. The Minister's medium-term goal is to bring Irish life expectancy to at least the EU average.
However, the Government's commitment to tackling the smoking issue was challenged at the conference by the ASH Ireland chairman, Dr Luke Clancy. Despite evidence that cigarette consumption was price-sensitive, tax increases on a packet of cigarettes had only varied between 5p and 12p over the last six Budgets, he said.
"I find it difficult to find a health strategy here," Dr Clancy said. ASH would be seeking a £1 increase, which it believed would send out an important message.
He also pointed to the appointment of Formula One's Eddie Jordan as a "huge blunder" and a mistake which a unified government policy on smoking should not allow.
Dr Clancy supported the drive for litigation against tobacco firms. While Ireland had a different legal system to the US, at the very minimum these legal actions would be useful in exposing what was happening in the tobacco industry, he said.
The contribution of bad diet and physical inactivity to heart disease was highlighted by Prof Mike Gibney of the Trinity College Medical School. Physical inactivity was the norm in society now, and unless addressed it would lead to a spiral of chronic disease, from heart disease to diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis, he said.
Some 31 per cent of Irish adults were overweight and 8 per cent were clinically obese. The Centre for Disease Control and the American College of Sports Medicine recommended an accumulation of 30 minutes physical activity on most, if not all, days, he said.
In addition, Irish consumption of fruit and vegetables was just half that of southern Europe. Research showed that fruit and vegetables were a source of bioactive non-nutrients which helped to prevent heart disease.