Health Commissioner sends tough anti-smoking message

In his last official press conference, Public Health
Commissioner David Byrne unveiled a new report on
tobacco and launched a set of 42 images which are to
appear on cigarette packages as tough warnings against
the dangers of smoking.

The Commissioner responsible for Public Health has
sent a strong message against tobacco use, referring
to the fight against it as having been one of
his priorities as commissioner. “The true face
of smoking is disease, death and horror – not the glamour
and sophistication the pushers in the tobacco industry
try to portray. The EU must hammer home this message to
young people,” said Mr Byrne.

At one of his final appearances as commissioner, Mr
Byrne summarised the outcome of a three-year anti-smoking
campaign which targeted young Europeans. Following up
on the success of the “Feel Free to Say
NO” campaign, he launched a new media campaign worth
72 million euro. 

Large health warnings, printed in black and white,
have been used across the EU for some time
in line with the Tobacco Products Directive. These
will now be complemented by a set of 42 often
horrifying pictures and graphic images which
the Commission has compiled and
made available in all the official languages of
the EU, targeting different population groups of
smokers. 

On this occasion, an extensive report
about ‘tobacco’ was also published. The
report provides an overview of tobacco use and its
effects on health, the economics of tobacco and tobacco
control in the EU, the development of the EU’s
tobacco-control policy and its impact on smoking. The
paper looks at the EU’s tobacco control
regulation and the influence of the tobacco industry in
this context. The 300-page long report leaves the
next Commission with a series of recommendations, for
both short and long term action.

The incoming Public Health Commissioner Markos
Kyprianou is widely expected to keep up the
momentum in the fight against smoking. At a hearing
by MEPs on 8 October, Mr Kyprianou said he would aim
at an EU-wide smoking ban at the work place as well as
other public areas (see also  
EURACTIV, 11 October 2004

).

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