Government welcomes EU directive on larger tobacco health warnings

The Government has welcomed the conclusion of European measures to standardise all tobacco products with larger, more graphic health warnings.

Moves to do so were advanced during the Irish presidency in the first half of this year when agreement of the EU member states was achieved. Backing of the European Parliament in October led to final agreement this week which means that health warnings on cigarette packets will double. Picture warnings will be placed on both sides of packets.

From 2016 the latest directive will introduce a ban on tobacco products containing flavours such as fruit or vanilla. Menthol cigarettes will be banned four years later.

The new measure also allows member states to go further, removing all logos, trademarks and marketing designs. The Irish Government plans to introduce standard packaging early in the new year as announced by Minister for Health Dr James Reilly.

“The evidence is clear,” he said. “Larger warnings with graphic pictures deter young people from starting to smoke and encourage smokers to quit.”

Lobbying
He said there was intensive lobbying from the tobacco industry to reduce the size of the warnings to 50 per cent.

“The Taoiseach and I wrote to the MEPs in the European People’s Party, the largest grouping in the European Parliament, encouraging them to reject this amendment.”

Tobacco consumption remains the largest avoidable health threat in Ireland and the European Union, he added.

“There are approximately 700,000 deaths from tobacco related illnesses in the European Union each year – 5,200 of them in Ireland.

“Half, or 1 in 2, of all long-term smokers will die from smoking related diseases. This is a stark statistic. There is no doubt that if tobacco were discovered today, knowing what we know about its lethal effects, it would not be a legal product.”

EU health commissioner Tonio Borg said: "I firmly believe that prominent visual warnings will serve as effective reminders of the severe health consequences of smoking and help people make well-informed choices."

So-called e-cigarettes will be sold as “consumer products” rather than as “medical products” which are more tightly controlled. But the commission could yet impose a ban if three or more member states prohibit them on health grounds.

“The commission will closely monitor developments and trends in this emerging market,” Mr Borg warned.

According to the commission: “The new rules make health warnings and information leaflets obligatory and introduce notification requirements for manufacturers and importers of e-cigarettes, stricter rules on advertising and monitoring on market developments. Member states and the commission will be in a better position to react in the case of health concerns related to these products and the Commission will report, for example, on the potential health risks associated with refillable e-cigarettes.”