Fog of War
The link between all this is the revised tobacco legislation — a multibillion-euro industry that threatens the lives of 1bn people over the next decade, according to the UN.
Tobacco is a dirty business.
Despite the fact that 1,800 people die each day, many members of the European Parliament are helping push the industry’s case for fewer controls.
They have been the subject of one of the biggest lobbying campaigns ever seen in Brussels, with the industry mobilising pressure from smokers, tobacco farmers, and retailers in MEPs’ own constituencies to influence how they vote today.
The result of the millions of euro spent over the past two years will be known this afternoon when Big Tobacco hopes that stiffer rules on smoking will be kicked into the future, when they can again be attacked and watered down.
The battle being fought in the parliament today will set the tone for the industry not just in the EU but throughout the world for years to come, the tobacco companies fear.
And they have thrown everything at it.
In the words of one EU official: “We have never seen anything like it, the lobbying is unprecedented, with MEPs bombarded. This has been on a scale completely beyond anything we have seen before.”
Member states, too, are not always sure what side they are on. The Czech health minister refused to come to the EU meeting dealing with the issue because he disagreed with his government’s pro-tobacco policies and didn’t want to have to promote them.
Normally closely guarded reports from the meetings of EU states’ civil servants in Brussels have been leaking quickly, with tobacco lobbyists complaining to their governments in the capitals about the line being taken.
Even the Irish Government has been confused at times, with Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Finance Minister Michael Noonan, and Justice Minister Alan Shatter meeting the industry when Ireland held the EU presidency, and contrary to the World Health Organization treaty.
The Government said it was just to discuss smuggling — one of the big fears the industry brandishes about to argue against plain packaging on cigarette packs. But Health Minister James Reilly — a virulent opponent of smoking — said that is a separate issue.
It is also one that many believe the industry itself contributes to and points to the fact that they don’t want tracing identifiers on cigarette packs. These would tell where the product was manufactured and every warehouse through which it passed. This is designed to prevent tobacco leaving an EU country for a third country, and being smuggled back without paying duty.
The other elements of the tobacco directive they are battling against is a ban on anything seen to target young people to make cigarette smoking look sexy, sophisticated, and attractive.
Slims, flavoured tobacco such as menthol and chocolate, and pretty lipstick-like packs are to go. And 75% of the packs are to be covered in health warnings complete with graphic images. E-cigarettes are to be treated as medical devices, like nicotine patches, and there will be a limit on the amount of nicotine they can hold.
THERE will be a 1bn unnecessary deaths from cigarettes by 2100, according to the WHO — as smoking kills more than the next six causes of premature death put together.
But the industry had won important skirmishes even before the new rules left the commission, where they were being drafted. These include no ban on displays at point of sale and no plain-pack law. Both of these will be left up to the member states to introduce if they wish — the ban on point-of-sale displays is in force in Ireland, and the health minister would like plain packaging. But Dr Reilly can be prepared for a mega-battle from the industry — it has fought it tooth and nail in Australia and shows no sign of giving up despite the Government’s action being supported in every court.
In the EU, the biggest victory for them would be to stop it in its tracks, an Irish EU official explained. The industry has mustered every argument possible to appeal to all political persuasions — from accusations of “nanny state” to interfering with free trade, depriving poor farmers of income, and putting manufacturing employees out of work. The industry advised the Czech government some years ago that smoking helped the economy because smokers died younger, costing pension funds less.
Britain’s Conservative Party and the Liberal groups in the European Parliament — to which Fianna Fáil belongs — are against e-cigarettes being classed as medicines. They argue they are helpful to stop people smoking and since they contain no tar, carbon monoxide, or smoke, should “face no more stringent authorisation procedure as regular tobacco”.
But the commission and others argue that they contain additional chemicals and nobody knows what they are. As medicines, each pack would have a leaflet setting out contents and warnings on contraindications. It would be up to EU states to decide where to sell them — in ordinary shops or just pharmacies.
Nicotine patches are sold as medicinal products and many doubt e-cigarettes will be much more successful than the patches in getting people off smoking — patches reportedly have a success rate of about 90%.
Manufacturers strongly disagree that they are chiefly aimed at getting people off smoking. Stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio and models at New York fashion week have been photographed puffing e-cigarettes (NJOY manufactures e-cigarettes and was one of the sponsors of the week).
The US Federal Drug Administration has expressed concern about the number of young people using them and is suggesting they may need to be regulated — which they can do if they are making health claims such as they help smokers stop.
The industry’s best hope, as they see it, is to have MEPs vote for the directive to go to a second reading — which, with elections happening next May and a new commission the following October, means it will be at least 2015 before it comes before the house again.
By then, who knows what the issues will be, and the industry will have a lot of new MEPs to influence on the various aspects of new rules. Already, many accept that warnings will be reduced to 65% of the packs — leaving the top part for the all important brand name.
Instead, the commission and Dr Reilly hope the parliament will today vote on their position in relation to the directive, and then vote to authorise MEPs to begin discussions with the council representing the member states. There, they will negotiate on any differences and finalise laws.
* Romanian MEPs were sent a petition signed by 15,000 tobacco retailers. The accompanying letter asks MEPs to vote against the directive because of tax losses — it’s not clear who organised the petition as there are no contact details on the letter.
* Postcards sent to Czech MEPs from Kutná Hora (where there is a Philip Morris factory producing slim cigarettes). They all say “we hope that you will take our concerns regarding the tobacco directive into account”.
* There is also a new Philip Morris campaign in the Czech Republic — inside every cigarette pack there is a little note saying “EU wants to ban your slims and menthol cigarettes! Act before it is too late! Contact your MEP in the European Parliament!” The same campaign is being run in Romania.
* Handwritten postcards Dutch MEPs received from workers at a Philip Morris factory say “I work for Philip Morris and I am sending you a message about the TPD”.
