Commission proposes to ban menthol cigarettes

Pictorial health warnings to be made mandatory and smokeless tobacco ban will remain unchanged.

Flavourings used to change the taste of cigarettes would be banned in the EU under a proposal put forward by the European Commission yesterday (19 December). The proposal would also require pictorial warnings that cover 75% of the pack of all cigarettes.

But the Commission stopped short of banning the use of cigarette brands and logos on packs, along the lines of recent Australian legislation. Tobacco companies had said such a ‘plain packaging’ requirement would infringe their intellectual property rights and increase trade in counterfeit cigarettes. The Commission also decided against requiring cigarette packs to be concealed from public view in stores, as the UK now insists. Member states would remain free, however, to pursue either measure on their own.

Under the proposal, the EU would become the first jurisdiction in the world to ban ‘slim’ cigarettes. The proposal would also ban packets containing fewer than 20 cigarettes. Existing EU law already requires text health warnings on cigarette packs, but pictures would now be required.

A revision of the 2000 tobacco products directive was due this year, but this was put in doubt by the resignation of former health commissioner John Dalli in October. There was concern that the abrupt change of leadership would delay the revision for several years. Health campaigners yesterday praised the new health commissioner, Tonio Borg, for delivering on the promise he made during his confirmation hearing that the proposal would still come out by 31 January.

Borg said he had not made any changes to the draft law crafted by his predecessor. Dalli was forced to resign over allegations of improper contacts with tobacco lobbyists. But there were suspicions that he had been set up by the tobacco industry in order to bring in a more tobacco-friendly commissioner.

“We are not prohibiting smoking, but we are making it less attractive to everybody, particularly young people,” said Borg, who himself smoked until 1991. He said the ban on flavourings is necessary because studies have shown that they make cigarettes more attractive. “Tobacco should look like tobacco and taste like tobacco,” he said.

Flavouring

The most controversial part of the flavouring ban will be that on menthol cigarettes, the most popular form. The use of menthol cigarettes is increasing, driven mainly by young people. The menthol share of the total market of cigarettes in the EU increased from 3.4% in 2000 to 4.6% in 2010.

Borg said the widespread use is an argument in favour of banning it. Studies have shown that menthol cigarettes could enhance a smoker’s exposure to nicotine and that the cooling sensation of menthol can mask the early symptoms of respiratory illnesses. But these studies remain inconclusive, and so far Brazil is the only country to have introduced a ban on menthol cigarettes.

The ban on flavourings will not include sugar, which some growers use to make their tobacco taste like that grown in areas with better growing conditions. A flavouring can be used as long as it does not change the taste of tobacco.

The proposal would not end the EU ban on smokeless tobacco snus, which had been sought by the Swedish tobacco company at the heart of the allegations against Dalli, Swedish Match. Sweden negotiated an exemption from the snus ban when it joined the EU, and it is the only member state in which its sale is legal.

Reaction to the proposal from campaign groups and MEPs was largely positive. According to a 2012 Eurobarometer survey, 76% of EU citizens support obligatory pictorial warnings. The Smoke-Free Partnership said they are pleased with the proposal but are disappointed plain packaging was not made mandatory.

Centre-right Austrian MEP Richard Seeber said many in the EPP group are happy with the proposal. “Our main aim is to inform consumers of the harm, but we don’t want a ban,” he said. He said a plain-packaging requirement would have been inappropriate because there is still a World Trade Organization case pending against Australia’s law, based on intellectual property claims. Centre-right German MEP Peter Liese said the early publication of the proposal will allow the Parliament enough time to give it full scrutiny and delay negotiations with member states until after a full plenary vote, which he said is necessary for such sensitive topics.

Monika Kosin?ska, secretary-general of the European Public health Alliance (EPHA), welcomed the proposal but expressed concern that it will be watered down in the legislative process. “Today’s release is only the beginning,” she said. “If these institutions do not make sure that a people-centred directive is approved by then, the new Parliament and next college of commissioners will find themselves back at square one. We are hopeful there is enough political will to complete the process next year.”

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The European Confederation of Tobacco Retailers called the proposal a “severe and restrictive text”.

“For our own survival, we will not hesitate to demonstrate in Brussels to express the reasons of our discomfort,” said the group’s chairman, Giovanni Risso.