Yorkshire Euro MP welcomes tobacco agreement

12.00.00am GMT Sat 17th Mar 2001

Lib Dem MEP Diana Wallis has welcomed the compromise agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council in the conciliation committee on the manufacture, presentation, and sale of tobacco products.

The agreement, approved on Tuesday, lays down maximum levels for tar, carbon monoxide and nicotine and it will enter into force on 30 September 2002. It will also lead to more graphic pictures and warnings on tobacco products.

Diana Wallis MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber said that 'smoking killed half a million people annually in the EU and half of all premature deaths among lifelong smokers were due to tobacco. For this reason although mature adults were entitled to make the decision whether or not to smoke they should receive full information about the dangers.'

'This agreement is a reasonable compromise. It puts the onus on the manufacturer to state exactly what their products contain in the way of additives and to depict in substantially enlarged warnings the hazards of smoking. I strongly welcome this agreement.'