Cigarettes kill 700 000 people a year in the EU

In early December, a majority of EU health ministers expressed support for increasing the list of places where smoking is banned.
In early December, a majority of EU health ministers expressed support for increasing the list of places where smoking is banned, in a bid to reduce the number of cancer deaths. The proposal received support from all countries except Germany and Greece, which abstained.
The aim of the new rules is to ban smoking in public outdoor areas where children or other vulnerable groups congregate, such as playgrounds, amusement parks, public swimming pools, outside areas of restaurants and public transport.
The recommendations also cover newer tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes and tobacco heating devices, in an attempt to deter young people from smoking.
A week earlier, the European Parliament rejected a resolution on the same issue after right-wing MEPs adopted amendments that would have distinguished traditional tobacco products from electronic devices. The decision would have had only symbolic significance.
The European Commission has proposed a review of existing rules since 2009, as around 700 000 people in the EU lose their lives each year to tobacco use, new EU Health Commissioner Oliver Warhei said before the vote. "This is the biggest avoidable health risk in the EU," he stressed.
It is estimated that tobacco use kills more than eight million people a year worldwide, including around 1.3 million non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
A quarter of cancer deaths in the EU, Iceland and Norway are attributable to smoking, making tobacco one of the leading causes of cancer. However, it is up to member states to decide their own health policies, which means that the new recommendations are not binding and countries can decide whether or not to implement them.
As part of Europe's plan to beat cancer, the European Commission has set a target of creating a 'tobacco-free generation', where less than 5% of the EU population will use tobacco by 2040.
A €16 million grant has been made available through the EU Health Programme to promote anti-smoking policies, while €80 million has been allocated under the Horizon programme for tobacco control and addiction prevention research.
Tobacco use in the EU has declined in recent decades, but figures vary from country to country.
A Eurobarometer survey on Europeans' attitudes towards tobacco and related products shows that almost a quarter of the EU population (24%) smokes - a 1% drop compared to a 2020 survey - but this figure varies from country to country. Bulgaria (37%), Greece (36%) and Croatia (35%) lead the way, while Sweden (8%) and the Netherlands (11%) have the fewest smokers.
In addition to the growth of e-cigarettes, which are particularly popular among young people aged 15-39, regular cigarettes remain the most popular choice. Average cigarette use remains the same as in 2020 and EU residents smoke 14 cigarettes a day.
In the Netherlands, a court upheld a government ban on flavoured e-cigarettes in early November on the grounds that they encourage young people to smoke. A court in The Hague ruled against tobacco giant British American Tobacco. The ban on flavoured e-cigarettes came into force on 1 January 2024.
Due to the huge number of deaths caused by tobacco, a number of health researchers have called for vaping to remain legal as a smoking cessation tool, but also to do everything possible to prevent young people from taking up smoking.
Data from more than 40 countries collected by the European coalition of NGOs fighting for tobacco control, the Smoke Free Partnership, shows that in 2022, half of the countries on the European continent had 'good' or 'very good' measures in place to protect the population from passive smoking, for example by banning smoking in certain places.
Some European countries have introduced smoking bans near schools, outside workplaces or in sports stadiums, but Sweden is the only European country to have a complete ban outdoors in restaurants and bars.
The number of daily smokers in the country is low, mainly due to the Swedish tradition of using 'snus', a ground tobacco product that is placed between the upper lip and palate and is considered less harmful than smoking because it only harms the user . According to recent data, 22% of men in Sweden and 10% of women use snus daily.
Since 2014, there has also been snus without tobacco but with added nicotine, which has become extremely popular, especially among young people, because it often comes in different flavours. As it is not officially considered a tobacco product, it is not banned by the EU, although there are certain national bans. The large international tobacco companies, which own many of the Swedish snus producers, are fighting hard against its ban outside Sweden. | BGNES