Anti-smoking: Germany's considerable delay

The European Cancer Leagues Association has published a report on the state of public anti-smoking policies implemented in 35 European countries as well as in Israel.[1]The document proposes a classification of the latter according to their state of progress in the implementation of essential public policies at the national level:

• Price increases on tobacco products through increased taxes;
• Ban on smoking in public areas and at work;
• Better information through campaigns to disseminate the results of scientific research on the dangers of tobacco;
• A complete ban on all forms of tobacco marketing: advertising and sponsorship, promotion, including at points of sale of tobacco products,
• The existence of visible health messages affixed to cigarette packets and other tobacco products with the adoption of neutral packaging;
• The establishment of assistance for smokers to quit, in particular through easier access to monitoring and medical treatment.

This latest assessment, published in February 2020 and based on 2018 data, also included measures to combat illicit trade in tobacco products and the protection of public policies from tobacco industry interference. Germany comes last in this ranking, behind Luxembourg and Switzerland. As the report highlights, Germany is currently the last country in the European Union to authorize tobacco industry advertising, despite several attempts to ban these practices. The country is indeed lagging far behind in the fight against tobacco: it was only in December 2019 that Angela Merkel's conservative bloc approved legislation against tobacco advertising, starting in 2022 in outdoor areas. Tobacco advertising in cinemas is set to be banned in 2021, while heated tobacco advertising will not be banned until 2023, and e-cigarette advertising until 2024, giving the tobacco industry considerable time to adjust its strategy.[2]This lack of voluntarism in the fight against tobacco comes at a high price: each year, smoking is responsible for the death of more than 120,000 people in Germany.[3].©Tobacco Free Generation

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[1] https://www.tobaccocontrolscale.org/TCS2019.pdf[2] https://cnct.fr/actualites/lentement-allemagne-se-rapproche-de-linterdiction-de-la-publicite-pour-le-tabac/[3] https://tobaccoatlas.org/country/germany/| ©National Committee Against Smoking |