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‘Make tobacco a manifesto commitment’

With the UK on the brink of a general election year, Ash director Clive Bates has called on the Labour Party to make the introduction of a tobacco regulatory authority a central plank in its election manifesto.

The commitment to introduce a Tobacco Regulatory Authority ‘to regulate all aspects of the marketing and manufacture of tobacco products’, is the ‘single most important decision’ that can be made, he said.

‘We’ve got the Food Standards Agency for food, the Medicines Control Agency for medicines. For tobacco we’ve got one man and a dog – and the dog’s dead.’

Bates’ call has come at the end of a tempestuous year for tobacco control activists in the UK and Europe.

In late autumn, the European Commission announced it was to sue tobacco giants Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds in New York under the US Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act. The commission alleges the companies have been involved in smuggling cigarettes into the European Union.

Under the US laws the EU can claim three times the revenue lost in unpaid customs duties and VAT.

At almost the same time, the central London offices of British American Tobacco (BAT) were raided by government inspectors, and directors and senior executives of the company were told they were to be questioned by officers of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Trade and Industry secretary Stephen Byers initiated the action after the Commons health committee recommended an investigation into BAT’s alleged condoning of tax evasion and smuggling.

It is estimated that over the past year £2bn-£3bn of tax and customs’ revenue has been lost to the UK exchequer due to tobacco smuggling – money that could have made a major impact if diverted into health and social care.

According to Bates, legal action is particularly important because the authorities will be forced to ‘start fingering the tobacco companies’. ASH wants the DTI inquiry widened to include Gallaher and Imperial. ‘Questions need to be asked about why these companies export so many cigarettes to countries where there is no market for them – often with UK health warnings on them,’ he said.

At the beginning of 2001, new guidance is to be issued on the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to cover passive smoking, which could play a crucial role in tobacco control in the UK, especially in pubs and clubs.

Health activists hope that employers will be obliged to do all they reasonably can to protect the welfare of workers by eliminating smoking in the workplace and cut passive smoking. It is feared, however, that the government is prepared to water down its previous commitment to statutory enforcement and instead opt for a voluntary code.

A final, and key, tool in the UK’s battle against tobacco will be a new tobacco advertising ban, expected to be announced in the Queen’s Speech as healthmatters went to press.

The bill, made necessary because loopholes in EU proposals allowed the European court of justice to throw out EU-wide restrictions on tobacco advertising, will be crucial in helping to stop tobacco companies from attracting new generations of young smokers.

Commenting on the failure of the EU legislation, Bates said: ‘The main thing is that we need a British bill and that we need it to be as tight as possible.’

If current trends continue, one billion people will die because of tobacco related illnesses during the 21st century.