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Canadian super-strong health warnings show the way ahead for Europe

New large, explicit and graphic tobacco health warnings proposed by theCanadian Government should be the new benchmark for the European Union says ASH.

Clive Bates, Director of ASH said: "the warnings may shock some people,but they tell the truth about smoking. If people are going make an informedchoice then they need the facts. It is the tobacco companies that always saythat smoking is a matter of informed choice."

"The European approach is much too weak. Just saying things like ‘smokingkills' doesn't go nearly far enough. It doesn't tell you how likely it isto kill, nor does it tell you that there a 20 different ways to die by smoking.Everyone knows about lung cancer, and most people know it causes heart attacksand bronchitis, but what about strokes, pneumonia, emphysema, gangrene, ulcers,gum disease, sexual impotence and rest of the long list of horrors awaiting thelong term smoker?" said Bates.

"Only the tobacco industry and people paid by them really believe that tobacco advertising is all about switching brands. The Government, the European Union, the World Bank and most respectable academics now accept that tobacco advertising increases smoking and therefore causes harm." Said Bates.

"The proposed new European warnings are certainly better than what wehave at present, but fall far short of the super-strong warnings to beintroduced in Canada."

The current UK warnings cover 6% of the pack and are often subsumed into thepack design by having, for example, gold lettering on a white background andelongated type faces. These are regulated under two EU Directives [1,2]

The proposed Canadian warnings cover 50% of the pack, include photographs ofdiseased organs, and detailed text on the health risks. These can be found onthe internet [3].

The European Union is currently considering a Commission proposal [3] for newwarnings that would cover 25% of the pack face, require the warnings to be plainblack and white with clear text and borders. The texts themselves remain similarto the existing warnings. These warnings, if agreed by the European Parliamentand Council of Ministers, would come in by the end of 2001.

END 

Notes to the editor

[1] 89/622/EEC http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/lif/dat/1989/en_389L0622.html

[2] 92/41/EEC http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/lif/dat/1992/en_392L0041.html

[3] http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/archives/releases/2000_07e.htm

[4] COM(99)594 Final (Art 6) http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/ph/tobacco/to01_en.html

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