Introduction

Tobacco has huge social and financial consequences for the European Community. Half of all smokers die prematurely as a result of tobacco-related disease. Amongst men, 33% die below the age of 69. On average, each of these smokers has lost 14 years of life.

Throughout the Community, 550,000 die every year. The pain and hardship caused to millions of smokers, their families and friends are incalculable – emotionally, socially and financially.

The EU has a major role to play, in helping to reduce the impact of the tobacco epidemic. MEP’s have the potential to influence tobacco control, for better or for worse. Please give us your views on these critical policy issues:

Please answer each question by Yes / No / Don’t know (DK)

Tobacco advertising and promotion

Tobacco companies publicise their products in order to promote sales. They seek to do so through direct advertising, indirect advertising and brand stretching (e.g., Peter Stuyvesant Travel, Camel Boots), events and sports sponsorship and product giveaways. Tobacco advertising targetted at young people has been shown to be particularly effective; resulting in nicotine addiction and potential lifetime customers for the industry.

The EU has recently agreed a Directive which will ban most forms of advertising and sponsorship throughout the Community by July 2006.

Q1 Do you support this Directive?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q2 Will you work to ensure that it is properly implemented and enforced in your own country and throughout the Community?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Contents regulation and disclosure

EU Directives govern the permissible tar content of cigarettes and require health warnings on packaging. There is no EU-wide legislation controlling nicotine, although this is the addictive component of tobacco. However, several Member States have introduced maximum permissible levels. Cigarettes are known to contain dozens of different additives. Many of these are added in the manufacturing process for different reasons, e.g., to make the cigarettes more palatable and easier to smoke, or to encourage continuous burning so that the cigarette does not go out between puffs. Moreover, the recent disclosure of tobacco company internal documents in the USA has revealed the tobacco industry’s deliberate strategy to keep smokers ‘hooked’, by manipulating the nicotine content of tobacco products.

Q3 Do you believe that the EU should legislate for better control of the content of tobacco products?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q4 Do you agree that this should include full disclosure of all tobacco ingredients and additives, to national and European authorities?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q5 Will you support proposals to strengthen the labelling Directive: specifically to ensure that the size of the health warnings is increased to a minimum of 35% of the total pack surface, that the warnings are positioned prominently (e.g., on the flip top) and printed clearly in black and white?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Fiscal policy

The sale price of cigarettes is a potential deterrent to smoking – especially amongst young people. Price increases cause smokers to give up. Some, but not all, will eventually return to smoking; but every price increase leads to an incremental health gain, in terms of fewer people smoking.

Q6 Do you agree that Member States should use tax policy to ensure an annual price increase above the level of inflation?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q7 Will you support moves to harmonise excise duties upwards throughout the EU, making tobacco products more expensive and reducing price differentials between the Member States?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q8 Do you agree that excise duties should be levied on ‘roll-your-own’ tobacco products (i.e., loose tobacco for pipes and hand-made cigarettes) at the same level as that applied to manufactured cigarettes?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q9 Will you work to ensure that the powers available to the EU are rigorously employed in the fight against tobacco smuggling?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Agricultural subsidies

The EU spends approximately 1,000 million EURO a year subsidising tobacco farmers through the Common Agricultural Policy (this compares to 11 million EURO a year on the ‘Europe against Cancer’ programme). Two attempts have been made to reform the tobacco regime during the past ten years, but these have largely been thwarted by tobacco farmers and the tobacco industry.

Q10 Do you believe that it is unethical to use EU taxpayers’ money to grow tobacco?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q11 Will you support a progressive phasing out of tobacco subsidies – e.g., over a period of ten years – giving tobacco farmers incentives to switch to other crops or to other types of employment?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Enlargement

The EU is in the process of enlargement, with at least six new Member States likely to join during the next 5/10 years. Some of these countries (e.g., Poland) already have stronger tobacco control legislation in place than most existing EU Member States. Others have tobacco controls that are much weaker. All the countries of Central Europe have been invaded by the multinational tobacco industry, which has been lobbying hard for the minimum of restrictions in order to exploit new markets.

Q12 Will you work to ensure that the highest possible levels of tobacco control legislation are maintained, or introduced, as part of the accession process?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

The European Parliament and Tobacco Control

The European Parliament has recently adopted two reports on tobacco control (Valverde López, Dec 1997) and tobacco advertising (Cabrol, May 1998). Do you endorse the conclusions of the Parliament:

Q13 That everyone has the right to breathe clean air, and that this right must always prevail over the right to smoke.

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q14 That smoking bans in the workplace improve the health and safety of all workers.

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q15 That tobacco vending machines should be banned, in order to reduce children’s exposure and access to tobacco products.

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q16 That effective smoking cessation programmes, including professional counselling and advice, should be made available to smokers.

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q17 That nicotine replacement products should be made available as widely as possible.

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q18 That tobacco advertising and sales via the Internet should be monitored and controlled.

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Future EU Public Health Policy

Tobacco control has been a central feature of the ‘Europe against Cancer’ programme since 1987. This programme will finish at the end of 2000. It is then the intention to introduce an ‘across the board’ programme, promoting health protection and healthy lifestyles in general – rather than targetting specific diseases. This approach has been endorsed by NGO’s from the health

sector. Tobacco is a risk factor for many diseases other than cancer– especially heart and respiratory disease. Tobacco is thus the most easily avoidable cause of morbidity and premature mortality, from all diseases, throughout the Community.

Q19 Do you agree that tobacco control should feature amongst the main priorities within the EU’s future public health programme?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q20 Will you work in partnership with interested NGO’s to ensure that Parliament adopts effective tobacco control measures during the next session (1999-2004)?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Q21 Would you like to attend a briefing on health issues, to be organised in Strasbourg or Brussels, for members of the new Parliament during the autumn?

• |_| Yes
• |_| No
• |_| DK

Thank you for taking the trouble to complete and return this questionnaire.

We shall analyse the replies received and then publicise a summary of candidates’ attitudes towards tobacco control, and our conclusions, in the local media prior to the European elections. Please ensure that we have your response by (insert desired date), so that your views can be reflected in this summary.

We shall be glad to provide further information, if you have any immediate queries about tobacco related issues. Please contact us nationally (give details) or contact our European office:

International Union against Cancer
and the
Association of European Cancer Leagues

EU Liaison Office
33 rue De Pascale
B-1040 Brussels

Tel: (32) 2 230 20 27
Fax: (32) 2 231 18 58