Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-18-Speech-1-088"
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"en.20021118.5.1-088"2
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"Mr President, this new directive outlaws tobacco advertising in the printed media in the whole of Europe and will also prohibit the advertising of tobacco products on radio and on the internet. Equally, sponsorship by tobacco companies of events or activities involving several Member States will be outlawed. As EU legislators we must bring forward proposals which will help to protect the health of our citizens and I believe that the dangers for our health from cigarette smoking must be vigorously highlighted at every opportunity. In fact we have a moral obligation to do more than to warn young people, in particular teenagers, of the acute dangers of cigarette smoking for our health.
A recent survey has suggested that child smoking in Germany alone has increased by up to 50%. The cigarette industry claimed that their cigarette products are for adults, yet every piece of practical evidence suggests that clever marketing and advertising only results in recruiting the next generation of smokers, who are teenagers.
The budget for the European Commission to highlight the dangers of cigarette smoking is only EUR 6 million and this pales into insignificance when one looks at the staggering levels of money available to the tobacco lobby to put in place innovative pro-tobacco marketing and advertising campaigns. We need to do more to spell out clearly to young people the brutal consequences for one's health from cigarette smoking – that three thousand people in Europe die every day from cigarette smoking. This means that a half a million citizens die needlessly in Europe each year because of an addiction to tobacco products. Cigarette smoking is the single biggest cause of premature death and illness in the whole of the European Union. A recent study shows that American male smokers lose 13 years of life to the habit of cigarette smoking and that woman smokers lose 14 and a half years of life from smoking.
If we are going to put in place comprehensive marketing campaigns to warn young people of the dangers of smoking, we need the necessary financial resources to oversee such a programme. The Commission, Parliament and the EU governments must substantially increase the financial budget for public health campaigns which highlight to teenagers the real dangers of smoking. Preventing tobacco-related illnesses would do more to help the citizens of the Union than any other life-saving measure, and tobacco companies are wrong to claim that advertising does not promote smoking but only promotes brand loyalty for a legal product. Advertising does have an influence in promoting smoking; that is why all Member States in Europe have rules which restrict or ban tobacco advertising in some shape or form. Advertising for other legally sold products including pharmaceuticals and alcohol is similarly restricted.
This directive does not mean that Member States cannot bring in more stringent measures to curb cigarette smoking if they so wish. Matters falling outside the remit of directives, such as indirect advertising or billboards and cinema advertising, remain within the competence of the individual Member States."@en1
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