EU considers complete ban on sale of filter cigarettes

(Patria) - The European Union wants to ban filter cigarettes and electronic tobacco products, according to German Bild, which has obtained a draft resolution of the EU Council for a meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Council states in the draft that a report by a WHO working group on the regulation of tobacco products explicitly recommends banning filters to reduce the attractiveness and taste of cigarettes.

The EU Council supports this WHO recommendation.

"A ban on the production, import, distribution and sale of filter cigarettes would make an important contribution to reducing tobacco consumption," it states.

A ban on e-cigarettes is also an "additional regulatory option," Bild reports.

The draft is expected to be considered at the WHO conference in Geneva in November.

Recommendations of this kind by the EU Council have significant implications for future tobacco regulation in the EU - including a revision of the so-called "Tobacco Products Directive." This could also include product bans.

The Austrian newspaper Kronen-Zeitung earlier reported that the European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen (67) also supports the ban.

To reduce consumption and addiction to tobacco and nicotine, the EU is even considering a ban on sales in shops, petrol stations and kiosks, Bild reports.

The EU's goals are environmental protection and human health, and as they claim, "bans would be an important step towards implementing the WHO directive aimed at protecting groundwater and soil, as well as promoting human health."

The individual goals are:
‣ prevention and reduction of tobacco consumption and nicotine addiction;
‣ reduced exposure of other people to tobacco smoke;
‣ environmental protection; and
‣ protection of these measures from commercial and other interests of the tobacco industry.

According to Bild, representatives of the German government "welcomed" the ban on filter cigarettes at a meeting of the EU Council Working Party on Public Health on 9 October, where the proposal was first discussed.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Health told Bild that the common EU position is still "in the process of coordination."

The World Health Organization will hold its Conference on Tobacco Control (COP11) in Geneva from 17 to 22 November.