Changes to cigarette packets, alerting people to the dangers of smoking, are expected to be ordered throughout the EU following a directive passed in the European Parliament yesterday.
The main change will be the publication of strong health warnings over nearly half the space on the packets. The warnings will take up to 45 per cent of the space on the back of the packet and 35 per cent of the space on the front.
Current EU legislation requires cigarette health warnings to cover only 4 per cent of the space on each packet.
The new package could carry warnings such as "Smoking kills half-a-million people in the EU" or "85 per cent of lung cancers are caused by smoking".
The parliament also voted for the elimination of such terms as "low tar", "mild" and "light" on cigarette packets. This proposal was put forward on the basis that such descriptions are misleading and that cigarettes of this type inflict as much damage to health.
Manufacturers will also be required to make publicly available details of all 200 chemicals used in tobacco products.
Another amendment was that tobacco products manufactured for export should meet the same standards as those for European consumption by 2006. This was passed in spite of strong lobbying by the tobacco industry against it.
However, MEPs rejected another proposal that graphic colour pictures showing the damage smoking can do to health be placed on packets. This radical idea, based on a move in Canada, would have included such vivid pictures as rotting teeth and blackened lungs.
The Public Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, agreed with the decision to exclude such pictures. "We want consumer information, not consumer harassment", he said.
Mr Byrne said he was encouraged by the parliament's strong support for the directive. He hoped that legislation would be cleared by the end of the year.
EU health ministers will meet in Luxembourg on June 29th to discuss the directive. The Commissioner said the indications were that the council would support it.
Mr Proinsias De Rossa MEP welcomed the adoption of the directive, saying that it ensured the right to a higher level of public health protection.
Ms Patricia McKenna, the Green MEP, said that all the improvements had been won with strong majorities, which should influence the Council of Ministers.