[Intl-tobacco] EU Tar, Nicotine Limits Will Cost UK Jobs, Cigarette Companies Say

[Robert Weissman]

EU Tar, Nicotine Limits Will Cost Jobs, Cigarette Companies Say
by David Altaner
Source: Bloomberg News, Monday, 5/14/01

London, May 14 (Bloomberg) -- A European Union directive setting maximum
levels on tar and nicotine in cigarettes, scheduled for debate in the
European Parliament tomorrow, will cost U.K. jobs, tobacco companies said.

The directive affects cigarettes manufactured after Jan 1, 2004 for
domestic consumption, and Jan. 1, 2007 for cigarettes for export. Tar
levels would be reduced to 10 milligrams and nicotine content to 1
milligrams.

``All that will mean is, gradually, manufacturing will be transferred out
of the EU,'' a spokeswoman for British American Tobacco Plc said, reading
from a statement.

BAT has two U.K. factories, in Darlington and Southampton, employing 1,800
workers. More than 80 percent of the cigarettes produced are for export,
she said.

Imperial Tobacco Group Plc has one factory in the U.K., employing about
1,200 people in Nottingham, said spokesman Paul Sadler. About 20 percent
of its output is for export.

Overseas smokers prefer the higher-tar cigarettes, and would probably
switch brands if EU manufactured cigarettes were different, he said.

The companies said they can't tell whether another part of the directive,
requiring additional health warnings on cigarette packages, will affect
business.

Warnings on the front include ``Smoking kills,'' and on the back would be
taken from a list of 14 warnings, including ``Smoking when pregnant harms
your baby.''

``I don't believe there will be an impact,'' Sadler said. ``Smokers
already are aware of the health warnings.''

Individual countries would also have the option of requiring color
photographs on the packs to illustrate heart and lung diseases and male
sexual impotence.  Canada already requires such photos on packs.