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In a letter to Health Commissioner Oliver Várhelyi, health ministers from 12 countries urge the Commission to step up its fight against tobacco and novel nicotine products.
Health ministers have urged the European Commission to step up its fight against tobacco and questioned the blocking of several pieces of tobacco legislation in a letter to Commissioner Várhelyi seen by Euronews. In the letter, dated 21 March, health ministers from Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia, and Spain, at the initiative of the Netherlands, voice their concerns over the increasing use of new nicotine products among youth, cross-border distance sales, and the responsibility of social media platforms. “We encourage you to take swift and decisive action to protect the health of our youth and to create a smoke-free generation by 2040,” the letter urges. They also question the delay in some of the key anti-tobacco initiatives presented by the Commission, such as the Tobacco Products Directive and Tobacco Taxation Directive, which under the European Beating Cancer Plan were initially planned for 2022 and 2024, respectively. “We are concerned with the fact that there is no foreseen date in the near future for the revisions in the updated roadmap,” reads the letter. “We urge you to publish these legislative proposals in 2025 and ensure they are aligned.” For that, they call to prioritise and allocate the resources needed for the revision of European tobacco control legislation and the inclusion of all new and future tobacco and nicotine products. Health ministers consider these delays especially harmful “considering the rapidly evolving market of tobacco and nicotine products.” Protecting childrenRegarding the use of novel nicotine products, ministers call for the development of future-proof EU legislation to reduce the attractiveness of e-cigarettes and other emerging nicotine products. According to the letter, this should include restrictions on flavours, nicotine levels, and packaging. This is especially targeted at protecting children, alongside their call to prevent access to these products online. The letter states that the online sale and cross-border trade of tobacco and nicotine products undermine national efforts to restrict access to these products and asks the Commission to adopt proposals to effectively tackle challenges and problems related to cross-border distance sales within member states.
