Every year in the EU, 700,000 persons lose their lives due to tobacco consumption, among which tens of thousands are due to second-hand smoke. The proposed revision to the Council Recommendation on smoke-free environments is a direct bid to help better protect people from the effects of second-hand smoke and aerosols. It also marks another step forward in the EU’s overall efforts to de-normalise the use of tobacco and emerging products, fight nicotine addiction, and improve preventive health.
The revision calls on EU countries to:
- extend the coverage of smoke-free policies to key outdoor areas, including outdoor recreational areas for children such as public playgrounds, amusement parks and swimming pools, as well as public buildings and transport stops and stations.
- extend smoke-free policies to emerging products such as heated tobacco products and electronic cigarettes, which increasingly reach very young users. The World Health Organization recently highlighted the negative effects of exposure to second-hand emissions from these products, including significant respiratory and cardiovascular problems.
Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan sets the goal of creating a ‘Tobacco-Free Generation’ by 2040, where less than 5% of the population uses tobacco. Deaths and other health indicators, such as heart attacks in the general population and improvements to respiratory health, have improved thanks to smoke-free environments. The Council Recommendation on smoke-free environments was adopted in 2009 and called on EU countries:
- to implement laws to fully protect their citizens from exposure to tobacco smoke in enclosed public places, workplaces and public transport
- to enhance smoke-free laws with supporting measures such as encouraging efforts to give up tobacco use and pictorial warnings on tobacco packages
- strengthen cooperation at EU level by setting up a network of national focal points for tobacco control.
Furthermore, the current revision encourages EU countries to exchange best practices and strengthen international cooperation to maximise the impact of the measures taken across the EU.
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