¿Por qué nosotros no? Acción Ciudadana por la Salud y el cambio de la Ley Española de Tabaco

... normal packs of roll-your-own tobacco will still be allowed under the new rules.

It was the European Parliament's first reading of a draft tobacco directive which could become law in 2014. It would then take two more years to become law in each of the 28 EU member states.

There has been intense lobbying of MEPs by the tobacco industry and health campaigners.

The Commission says almost 700,000 Europeans die from smoking-related illnesses each year - equal to the population of Frankfurt or Palermo. The costs for healthcare in the EU are estimated to be at least 25.3bn euros (£20.6bn; $33.4bn) annually.

Mixed reactions

Conservative and Liberal MEPs welcomed the amendments made to the original proposal from Labour's Linda McAvan.

Speaking to the BBC, Ms McAvan said she was disappointed that slim cigarettes were not banned.

But cigarette packaging made to look like lipstick or perfume containers - attractive to girls - will disappear, she noted.

There will now be further negotiations with the Council - the grouping of relevant EU ministers. MEPs may manage to avoid a second vote and fast-track the legislation so that it is adopted before the May 2014 European elections.

The proposals also include a ban on words like "light", "mild" and "low tar", deemed to be misleading, and a ban on oral tobacco - called snus - although Sweden would retain its exemption.

EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg called the vote "positive". "I am confident that the revised Directive on Tobacco Products can still be adopted within the mandate of the current Parliament," he said.

But Carl Schlyter MEP, health spokesman for the Greens, called it "a shameful day for the European Parliament, as a centre-right majority, led by the EPP group, has done the bidding of the tobacco industry and voted for weaker rules".

Angela Harbutt of the pro-tobacco organisation Forest criticised the legislation, saying "prohibition doesn't work and products that are banned will almost certainly be available on the unregulated black market.

"Law-abiding consumers will be at a serious disadvantage and it won't help children because criminal gangs don't care who they sell to," she said.

E-cigarette controversy

The UK has already said e-cigarettes will be licensed as medicine from 2016.

Sales of the tobacco-free devices have boomed worldwide since bans on smoking in public places were introduced.

But campaigners say their growing popularity is dangerous.

They argue that e-cigarettes undermine years of anti-smoking efforts and could be especially damaging to children and non-smokers.

The devices are designed to replicate smoking behaviour without the use of tobacco. They turn nicotine and other chemicals into a vapour that is inhaled.

Manufacturers of e-cigarettes say the products have the potential to save millions of lives.

Anti-smoking campaigners say young people especially are being tricked into taking up smoking.

Prof Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine says tobacco firms have simply extended their advertising techniques to e-cigarettes.

Commissioner Borg, presenting the proposals, said tobacco products "should look and taste like tobacco products".

In 2009‐10, sales of tobacco products generated nearly £9bn ($14.6bn; 11bn euros) in taxes for the UK government, about 2% of all receipts from taxation, a government report said.

... years: 70% less, well above the EU average of 46%. In addition, 82% of the population –including many smokers- agree with current legislation, says a poll by the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (SEMFYC). In fact, social acceptance is increasing, according to the last health barometer of the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality.

The current law has only been weakened once. It was done by the previous social democrat Government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero following pressure from the largest Spanish department Store El Corte Inglés to allow the sale of smoking products in convenience stores such as their Opencor chain. Now Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas Sands casino chairman, 12th on the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans and one of the most important magnates of the gambling industry, has announced the construction of the largest casino resort in Europe in the autonomous community of Madrid, a project popularly known as Eurovegas. Adelson, whose company is under criminal investigation for possible violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and has just agreed to pay $47 million to the U.S. to settle a money-laundering case, has requested that Spain’s smokefree law be weakened to allow smoking in the casino’s premises. He promises that the casino project will create 200,000 jobs and bring prosperity to the region.

Thus, the regional and national governments are salivating. Amendments to labor and urban planning laws and tax breaks have already been negotiated. The repeated requests from the president of the autonomous community of Madrid, Ignacio González, from the conservative People´s Party (PP), that the central government amends the law seem to be having their effect. Recently the minister of health, social services and equality, Ana Mato, also from the PP, said that the Government is “looking for ways” to “reconcile the protection of health with the creation of jobs”. In fact, according to the newspaper El Mundo, the change has already been decided: smoking will be allowed in certain areas on all current 41 casinos throughout the country and on those to be built in Eurovegas. The daily La Razón states that the law will be amended before November.

The EU Commission considers that the economic impact of banning smoking across the EU has been limited, neutral and even positive in bars and restaurants industry except for maybe on gambling premises, a probably correct estimate according to the available scientific literature. However, the comorbidity between tobacco smoking and gambling seems clear. Tobacco might have neurochemical effects that enhance gambling behaviour (1) and problem gambling severity and amount of money spent, have been related to smoking (2). Must we create further death and disease to have jobs?

Health professionals are fighting the change and the global community is watching. An umbrella platform of different tobacco control organizations (porquenosotrosno.org) has launched the campaign Don´t touch the law to request international support to prevent the weakening of these public health protections. But the tobacco lobby´s tentacles remain long. The presidents of five autonomous communities in which tobacco is cultivated –Extremadura, Andalusia, La Rioja, the Canary Islands and Cantabria- recently signed a document opposing the new stronger Directive on tobacco control under discussion at the EU during a joint meeting celebrated in the headquarters of the tobacco company Altadis. Meanwhile, according to members of the Directorate General for Health & Consumers of the European Commission, there is a growing concern that former health commissioner John Dalli’s resignation may have been related to Big Tobacco’s strategies.

Health workers and other citizens must be aware of these manoeuvres and press health authorities at all levels that no concessions must be given to tobacco companies or others whose interests in profit threaten public health.

References:

1.- Mcgrath, DS and Barret, SP (2009), The comorbidity of tobacco smoking and gambling: A review of the literature. Drug and Alcohol Review, 28: 676–681. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-3362.2009.00097.x

2.- McGrath DS, Barrett SP, Stewart SH, and McGrath PR. A Comparison of Gambling Behavior, Problem Gambling Indices, and Reasons for Gambling Among Smokers and Nonsmokers Who Gamble: Evidence from a Provincial Gambling Prevalence Study Nicotine Tob Res (2012) 14 (7): 833-839