ESMO continues with its efforts to fight the tobacco epidemic and to achieve the ambitious goal of creating the Tobacco-Free Generation, set in the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP). Ahead of the European Parliament’s approval hearing of the Commissioner Designate, Olivér Várhelyi, ESMO together with a number of health organisations published a joint statement calling on the European Union to intensify its efforts to implement comprehensive tobacco control measures and take decisive actions against the bane of cancer.
The joint statement welcomes the European Commission's proposal on the Council Recommendation on Smoke Free Environments and calls for a timely review and update of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), the Tobacco Taxation Directive (TTD), the Tobacco Advertising Directive (TAD) and and full implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
ESMO’s Director of Public Policy, Prof Jean-Yves Blay, stated: “with evidence emerging that new products like e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products pose serious health risks, and of the rapid increase of vaping amongst adults who had previously never smoked, the EU must react to these societal changes by expediting its delayed revision of the EU’s tobacco legislation to ensure the achievement of the Europe's Beating Cancer Plan’s objective to create a 'Tobacco- Free Generation' by 2040, where less than 5% of the population uses tobacco.”
ESMO also sent a letter to the Permanent Representations of EU member states asking to secure the adoption of the aforementioned Council Recommendations planned early December 2024. The letter welcomes the recent publication of the Council Recommendations, with their wider scope covering electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and heated tobacco products (HTPs) and extending the coverage of smoke-free environment policies to key outdoor areas, as a positive step towards achieving the Tobacco-Free Generation by 2040, where less than 5% of the population uses tobacco, as set in the EBCP.
ESMO is committed to working with the EU and national governments to secure the implementation of comprehensive tobacco control measures to prevent cancer during the new EU mandate and beyond.