Tobacco related diseases place a large burden on health systems in all EU Member States. Yet, although a great deal is being done at both EU and Member state levels to reduce this burden and to increase awareness of the dangers of tobacco, very few people are aware of the link between smoking and sight loss.
AMD is the most common cause of vision loss for people over the age of 55 in the EU. To coincide with World No Tobacco Day 2006, RNIB as part of the AMD Alliance Europe, went to Brussels on 30 May 2006 to promote awareness of the link between smoking and blindness.
A position paper for this campaign produced in conjunction with the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and the European members of AMD Alliance International was launched on 31 May, 2006. It is supported by the European Union of General Practitioners, the European Blind Union, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness Europe, the European Network for Smoking Prevention and ASH (the UK Action on Smoking and Health)
Download the Position paper (word 571KB)
What happened in Brussels?
-
We held a street theatre performance and a press call outside the European Parliament's main entrance as people arrived for work. With a jazz band and performers, we reached hundreds of people and raised awareness of the link between smoking and blindness. Commissioner Kyprianou who has responsibility for the EU's policy on smoking attended and welcomed the campaign.
-
Liz Lynne MEP hosted an information seminar about the link between smoking and AMD for MEPs, the Commission and representatives of the Member States in the European Parliament. Liz also hosted an evening reception for MEPs offering a more informal opportunity to discuss the campaign and how it should be taken forward.
-
During the day a statement (Word 24KB) was released by the campaign partners.
Current situation
Warnings on tobacco packaging within the EU are governed by directive 2001/37/EC. Under this directive, tobacco products must carry one of the following warnings:
-
Smoking Kills / Smoking can kill
-
Smoking seriously harms you and others around you
-
and an additional warning which is chosen from a designated list of fourteen.
Following a Council decision (C(2003)3184), governments can also require the written warnings to be combined with images from a library of 42 pictures.
As awareness of the link between smoking and blindness is particularly low, it is not surprising that none of the warnings refer to this danger. Experience in Australia has demonstrated that more people respond to warnings about smoking and sight loss than warnings about the link between smoking and other health problems.
The reaction is particularly strong when written warnings are combined with graphic images to reinforce the message. The strong response to the warning about smoking and blindness is likely to reflect the common fear of sight loss: When questioned, 9 out of 10 people in the UK and Canada said that their sight was the sense they most feared losing.
What are we campaigning for?
We believe that people in the EU need to be made aware of the proven link between smoking and sight loss.
Our campaign objectives are:
-
To add the following warning to Annex 1 of 2001/31/EC
a) smoking can cause blindness or
b) smoking causes blindness
-
To add one or more graphic images to the library to stress this message.
The next steps
The 2001 Directive established a regulatory procedure involving a Regulatory Committee to assist the Commission in monitoring the tobacco warnings. Any recommendations on the warnings made by the Commission must be approved by this committee. Should the Committee reject or fail to decide on any recommendations, these will be referred to the European Parliament and the Council for further consideration.
The Commission is due to present its next report on the implementation of the directive this September giving the Regulatory Committee until the end of 2006 to reply.
The directive and warnings are by now well established and it makes sense to update the warning list and photo libraries to take heed of the latest research into the dangers of smoking.