EU plans to print scary photos on cigarette packs

"Smoking is harmful to health" - this slogan is printed on cigarette packages sold on the market. Now the EU plans to print pictures of cancerous tumors. The tobacco industry has complained, but the EU Parliament has to some extent accommodated the industry's concerns.

    
ARCHIVE - Cigarette boxes with a possible uniform appearance and imprints of consequential damage from cigarette consumption stand behind an ashtray with a smoking cigarette on September 14th, 2012 at the opening press conference for the inter-tabac tobacco trade fair in the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund. Photo: Jonas Güttler/dpa (to dpa: Tobacco Directive/EU from October 8, 2013) +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++

After seeing packaging like this, do you still want to smoke it?

(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) Cigarette packaging in the future may become more and more "off-putting": photos of smokers' blackened lungs, rotten teeth and even cancer tumors will be printed on the packages. On Tuesday, the European Parliament passed a relevant draft law proposed by the European Commission with a majority. However, EU parliamentarians have weakened the European Commission's proposal: the original draft set that 75% of cigarette packages would have such "scary photos" or warning slogans printed on them, while the EU Parliament changed this proportion It was reduced to 65%. This is equivalent to taking into account the concerns of the tobacco industry. Tobacco companies have been strongly opposed to this bill before, otherwise the canteens selling books, newspapers and cigarettes will become "horror huts".

The tobacco industry strongly opposes

What is controversial is what effect these "horror photos" will bring. EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg cited the examples of Canada and Brazil as evidence, because in these two countries, such shocking photos have indeed reduced tobacco consumption. But Holger Krahmer, an EU member of the Free Democratic Party, holds a different view. He, who advocates market liberalization, believes that this new regulation is "a stupid crusade against smoking" and is untenable from an economic point of view.

ILLUSTRATION - A woman smokes an electric cigarette in Hamburg on January 26, 2011. The electronic cigarette is considered a “healthy alternative” to smoking because it does not burn tobacco. Instead, liquid nicotine concentrate is vaporized. But critics warn against underestimating the effects of the e-glow stick. Photo: Marcus Brandt dpa/lno (to dpa-KORR: “E-cigarettes - a questionable alternative” from February 16, 2011)

E-cigarettes – better than nothing?

Few EU bills in the past few years have evoked such strong emotional reactions as this tobacco industry regulation. Tobacco industry lobbyists turned out in droves in Brussels, sparking outrage from anti-smoking campaigners. In any case, the two sides are stuck in a stalemate: the tobacco industry warns that the new regulations may lead to the loss of industry jobs; while anti-smokers point out that as many as 700,000 people die each year in the EU from diseases caused by smoking.

In the fall of 2012, the then EU Health Commissioner John Dalli became infamous because of his acquaintance with a tobacco industry outsider, and eventually lost his job. At that time, many people outside the institution were secretly happy about this, because they hoped that this personnel change would cause the relevant EU legislative procedures to be delayed indefinitely. But they rejoiced too soon, and Darley's successor, Berg, quickly took over the bill. His goal: to reduce the number of smokers, especially young smokers, in order to reduce the number of deaths caused by smoking. For him, smoking is equivalent to destroying a city the size of Palermo, Italy, every year, which is unacceptable.

The bill has not yet been finalized

On Tuesday, the European Parliament expressed in principle its support for the European Commission's approach. Richard Seeber, the CDU's deputy spokesman for health affairs in the European Parliament, regarded the passage of this vote as "a major victory for the protection and health of adolescents."

However, EU lawmakers still made certain concessions to the interests of the tobacco industry. E-cigarettes are not classified as medicines - otherwise they would not be sold in German tobacco kiosks as they are now, but would have to be sold through pharmacies. The decision was surprisingly supported by both the CDU and the left-wing camps. Sabine Wils, an EU member of the Left Party, said: "Based on our current knowledge, e-cigarettes are far less harmful than traditional cigarettes." Therefore, it is correct to refuse to define them as medicines.

ARCHIVE - Former Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt smokes in Hamburg (archive photo from April 14, 2011). According to a Forsa survey, Schmidt is the greatest role model among German citizens. The magazine “Stern” chose twelve German personalities. Photo: Bodo Marks dpa (to dpa "Survey: Helmut Schmidt's greatest role model in Germany" from March 14, 2012) +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++

Schmidt: Live until you are old, smoke until you are old

In addition, as Germany's most famous die-hard smoker, the 94-year-old former chancellor Helmut Schmidt can also breathe a sigh of relief. Because although his favorite menthol cigarettes are also banned, they can enjoy a fairly relaxed transition period. According to the wishes of the European Parliament, the relevant sales regulations will not take effect until 2022, while EU countries plan for 2019. In this regard, various countries and the EU Parliament still need to negotiate. In other words, this draft law has not yet been finalized. However, since the two major institutions, the European Commission and the European Parliament, have the same or similar views on many key issues, it is expected that there will be no problem in finalizing these regulations in early 2014.

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur Compiled by: Yu Han