[Intl-tobacco] Gag Order: EU Law's Graphic Tobacco Warnings (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Gag Order: EU Law's Graphic Tobacco Warnings
by Paul Meller / New York Times Service
Source: International Herald Tribune, Thursday, 3/1/01

BRUSSELS Cigarette packs sold in Europe may soon have almost a third of
their fronts covered with vivid photos of rotting lungs.

A new European Union directive aimed at reducing smoking in the EU also
outlaws low-tar or so-called mild brands, and obliges cigarette
advertisers to print warnings that cover 30 percent of the front and 40
percent of the back of all cigarette packs.

A spokesman for Philip Morris Cos., David Davies, said graphic images on
cigarette packs and on-pack warnings should do what they are designed to
do:  provide useful information to smokers. "We have a concern that the
use of graphic images will only demean and vilify the consumer," Mr.
Davies said.

Government ministers and European Parliamentarians passed the tobacco
directive Wednesday. Member nations of the Union have 18 months to
transpose the directive into their national statute books, and individual
countries are apt to interpret the law differently.

The EU health and consumer protection commissioner, David Byrne, said the
law would help reduce the proportion of smokers in Europe from one in
three now down to U.S. levels of less than one in five of the adult
population.

"This agreement represents a watershed in the fight against the scourge of
tobacco," Mr. Byrne said.

Other measures in the directive include a clause limiting the amount of
tar to 10 milligrams per cigarette and for the first time there will be
upper limits on nicotine and carbon monoxide levels, too. Tobacco
companies will have to disclose to governments exactly what they put in
their cigarettes, including any potentially harmful additives.

The ministers and parliamentarians have called on the commission to draft
rules on printing graphic images on cigarette packs by the end of next
year.

A spokesman at the Council of Ministers said member states could put into
effect different rules on the use of graphic warnings in the meantime, but
once the commission has developed an EU-wide policy it should be
introduced throughout the 15-member block.

The tobacco industry has not yet prepared a response to the directive.
"Different members are affected in different ways," said Wilfred Dembach,
chairman of the confederation of European cigarette makers.

Philip Morris insisted it wants to work with legislators to reduce the
harm caused by smoking.

"We want to continue to have a dialogue," Mr. Davies said. "We support
efforts to regulate advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products. We
agree health warnings on cigarette packs should be mandated."

But he said 30 percent of the front of a pack was "disproportionate." He
added that 15 percent was sufficient to inform consumers of the dangers of
smoking.  Mr. Davies also agreed there was a need to set some smokers
straight about the belief that "mild" and "light" cigarette brands were
less harmful than their full-tar equivalents.

But he stressed that low-tar labels should not be scrapped altogether.
"They provide valuable information for consumers," he said.

Jules Maaten, the liberal Dutch parliamentarian who led the debate on the
tobacco directive, said the law would finally close a loophole that
allowed cigarette makers much more lax rules than food companies were
allowed.

"We know what's in a jar of marmalade but we don't know what's in a packet
of cigarettes - it's a very odd situation," he said.