Brussels, 26/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - On the initiative of European Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, the European Commission is expected to publish a Green Paper on passive smoking, on Tuesday 30 January. On the basis of this document, the Commission will take stock of the harmful effects of passive smoking, its cost for health and for the economy, as well as the measures already taken by member states to remedy the situation. Two questions will be at the heart of the debate: What is the best way to create a smoke-free environment? Could a European directive achieve this? The first question above all concerns the smoking ban: Should such a ban be complete as in Ireland or should there be exceptions to it as in Belgium? The second question calls for a decision between respect of subsidiarity and the general principle of a high level of public health protection. The fact that national legislation has become more harmonised over recent years points in favour of a European regulation. The chapter on combating passive smoking would thus complete the efforts already implemented at Community level: regulation of tobacco products, regulation of advertising, gradual phasing out of subsidies for tobacco crops and communication actions, especially with the current “Help” campaign.
It is generally believed that 13 million Europeans suffer from serious smoking-related illnesses. Each year, 650,000 Europeans die of cancer, heart disease or smoking-related respiratory disease. Passive smoking alone is said to cause 19,000 deaths per year in the European Union. Most member states have now adopted an almost complete ban on smoking in public places, although in some cases the ban will not take effect until later during 2007 (United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland), or in 2008 (France, Lithuania). Some countries still exempt hotels and restaurants from the smoking ban (Austria, Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Romania). Others provide exemption for bars and cafes (Belgium), and small eating establishments (Spain). (oj)