A Swedish newspaper has argued that the EU lied to justify it’s ban
The European Commission announced that most member countries are saying a firm no. But DN’s review shows that there is in fact strong support for making snus freely available on the market.
Source Newspaper Translation
If the newspaper and the MEP correct, e cigarettes could very well be the next alternative to smoking to be banned in Europe.
The result?
An early death for many of the smokers who would otherwise have used electronic cigarettes.
What can you do?
The EU is already reviewing e cigarettes.
If enough people show they care, the EU might just reconsider banning e cigarettes.
Click here to join thousands of other e cigarettes users in signing a petition to keep e cigarettes legal and available in EU. And share the word with other people who have benefitted from e cigarettes.
Note Thanks to David Atherton for sending me the link to the YouTube video above.
Poland opposes eu menthol and slim cigarettes ban – thenews.pl :: news from poland
“Poland will not support the draft directive on tobacco,” said Health Ministry spokesman Krzysztof Bak, in an interview with Polish Radio.
“We are taking into account the consequences,” he added.
The Health Ministry had been instructed to prepare a document outlining the government’s stance on the matter, but was obliged to draw on opinions from the ministries of agriculture, finance and the economy.
In spite of the Health Ministry’s reference to 90,000 deaths in Poland per year as a result of smoking related diseases, the opinions of the other ministries proved decisive.
The Ministry of Agriculture outlined that Poland is the largest exporter of tobacco products in the EU.
Revenues from these exports amount to 36 percent of those for all agricultural and food related products.
Meanwhile, budget revenues in 2012 for taxes on tobacco products amounted to 20 million zloty (4.7 million euro).
In December, after the European Commission passed a proposal for the directive, Polish tobacco growers and cigarette manufacturers sent a letter to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, calling for the government to oppose the legislation.
“Polish tobacco growers will suffer, and the elimination of many plantations as well as reduced orders will mean corporations making redundancies,” wrote head of the Polish Tobacco Association Przemys aw Noworyta, as cited by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
The draft directive is intended “to deter young people from starting to smoking,” according to Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, Tonio Borg, as quoted by the Europolitics daily.
Besides banning cigarettes that are supposedly “too attractive”, the draft legislation also seeks to ensure that cigarette packets carry health warnings that cover 75 percent of the front of each packet.
The Ministry of Agriculture has called on the government to form a coalition of EU member states that are against the ban.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry has forecast that if the legislation is passed, work on the directive will take about two years, and the prospective changes would not come into force until late 2014 or 2015. (nh)