They call this evidence?

The Irish Cancer Society has released a video to persuade people of the need for 'plain' packaging of tobacco.

This is evidence, apparently, that the measure will stop children smoking.

James Reilly, Ireland's health minister who is on a personal crusade to rid the country of pesky smokers, responded in the manner you might expect:

The Minister for Health Dr James Reilly TD has strongly welcomed the publication of a new video by the Irish Cancer Society which clearly demonstrates the effect of tobacco packaging on young children.

In the video a group of children is invited to give their views on two different types of packaging: – the current packs used by the tobacco industry and, secondly standardised packaging with significantly increased health warnings.

Currently tobacco companies are entitled to have cigarette packets of different shapes and sizes, with colourful branding, tailored to be attractive to groups including young prospective smokers. In the video the children can be seen to describe the attractiveness of the packs.

But when the children are presented with the cigarettes in standardised packaging, which carry massive health warnings and greatly reduce the potential for the tobacco companies to press their brand, the children declare themselves disgusted by the packaging. The children are seen questioning why it is that people begin to smoke at all.

It is a dramatic demonstration of precisely what the Irish Government hopes to achieve. Minister Reilly has secured the agreement of the Cabinet to introduce standardised packaging for tobacco products in Ireland.

Minister Reilly is clear that the intention of introducing standardised packaging is to make young people think twice before they start to smoke. International evidence shows that most people who start to smoke do so under the aged of 18 years.

Dr Reilly said “If we can put young people off smoking, even for a couple of years, the evidence suggests that they may not develop this killer addiction at all. This video is fascinating in that it shows clearly the degree to which the children are repelled by standardised packaging and more importantly express negative views about the smoking habit.

"I would encourage as many people as possible to watch this video. I will shortly go to Cabinet with the heads of legislation to introduce standardised packaging in Ireland and I look forward to the day when Irish children will refuse to take up a habit which kills one in two smokers.”

I too would encourage as many people as possible to watch this video because it demonstrates the depths to which the tobacco control industry, aided and abetted by politicians like James Reilly, will sink to stigmatise a legal product.

The Journal.ie has the story here – Tallaght schoolchildren have their say on new cigarette packaging.

PS. A few weeks ago the Irish Cancer Society also published a report about the effects of plain packaging on teenagers.

Prompted by Chris Snowdon, Forest Eireann's John Mallon wrote about it here – Truth behind that Irish Cancer Society plain packs study.

What neither John nor Chris mentioned was the fact that the 'study' was based on the views of just 24 people.

Ban all tobacco products if you want to really stop people smoking

One of the world's oldest debating societies has invited me to take part in a debate, 'This House would ban all tobacco products', on Friday night.

Founded in 1842 at Durham University, the Durham Union Society hosts a weekly debate on topical issues.

I'm writing my 15 minute speech (opposing the motion!) today so if you want to contribute anything post a comment here and I'll try to incorporate it.

Meanwhile the IEA has chosen an interesting (and provocative) title for a debate in Dublin next week - 'How to really stop people smoking'.

I hope I'm wrong but it suggests a consensus in which the entire panel supports the idea that people should quit. The only issue, it would seem, is how to achieve that goal.

Speakers include Prof John Crown, one of Ireland's leading anti-smoking activists who supports plain packaging and wants to ban smoking in cars with children, and Chris Snowdon who I assume will talk about the need to encourage and not over-regulate free market alternatives such as e-cigarettes.

Hopefully someone will also speak up for those who enjoy smoking and don't want to quit because I fear their voice is slowly being drowned out as more and more people jump on the anti-smoking/e-cigarette bandwagons.

I'll let you know the outcome of both debates in due course.

Update: The IEA tells me the Dublin debate will be filmed and posted online. Watch this space.

Update: Good article by Brian Monteith over on The Free Society - If we must denormalise anyone, choose the politicians, not the smokers.

Cameron: EU ban on ten packs doesn't sound very sensible

David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions today:

EU ban on packs of ten cigarettes doesn't sound very sensible.

I'm trying to get a transcript of his exact words but it seems the PM was unaware of the policy that MEPs voted for in the European Parliament yesterday and is supported by health secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Fancy that!

Update: Here it is:

Jake Berry (Rossendale and Darwen) (Con):

Does the Prime Minister believe that when the European Union forces my constituents to buy 20 cigarettes at a time, rather than their current 10, it will reduce the number they smoke?

The Prime Minister:

It does not, on the face of it, sound a very sensible approach. I was not aware of the specific issue, so let me have a look at it and get back to my hon. Friend.

Someone - health secretary Jeremy Hunt, perhaps - should tell him the vote took place yesterday and the "specific issue" he refers to has been discussed and debated (although not by the British media) for at least three years.

What it does suggest is this. The Department of Health is a law unto itself and even the prime minister has no idea what ministers and civil servants are planning or consenting to - until it's too late.

Tobacco Directive could have been worse but don't believe the spin

Yesterday I had to drive my son to university.

It was his first day and we arrived, as directed, in the narrow lane outside the college at eleven o'clock sharp.

It was a super efficient operation. Within minutes we were surrounded by a small team of second year students who took less than a minute to strip the car of all his luggage and possessions before taking them to his room.

And off he went - happy, I think, to be fully independent at last.

(I can't believe it's almost 19 years since we emerged from Edinburgh Royal Infirmary with a small bundle that I had enormous difficulty strapping into the car seat. He's changed enormously since then, believe me!)

So I was on the M40 driving home when I got the news. The European Parliament had voted to ban menthol cigarettes (though not for eight years), prohibit ten packs and increase the size of health warnings to 65 per cent of the pack.

Slim cigarettes have been reprieved, as expected. And a compromise appears to have been reached over pouches of roll your own tobacco.

The smallest (12.5g) will banned but the word is that 20g packs may be allowed. (The original proposal would have banned 25g pouches as well.)

Media wise speed is essential so I pulled into a Welcome Break service station, bought a coffee in Starbucks, sat down with my laptop, and began writing a press release (see previous post).

Back in London Forest campaigns manager Angela Harbutt had already finished a string of interviews for BBC local radio. Stations included:

BBC Radio Gloucestershire
BBC Radio York
BBC Radio Essex
BBC Radio Sheffield
BBC Radio Cumbria
BBC Radio Ulster
BBC Radio Scotland
and BBC Radio Wales

Yesterday afternoon the phone continued to ring. Journalists and broadcasters wanted to know what Forest had to say about the vote.

Bruno Waterfield, a famously eurosceptic correspondent who works for the Daily Telegraph in Brussels, called.

So did the political editor of Metro. (Angela is quoted on today's front page.)

Someone working for the BBC in Europe then wanted to know if we had anyone in Strasbourg they could interview. (Sadly, no.)

We were also asked to provide a spokesman for BBC World's Business Edition programme at 9.00pm.

I agreed to do it from the BBC's studio in Cambridge.

It was dark when I arrived and there were only one or two people about. I was led into a soundproof room the size of a small walk-in cupboard.

According to BBC World the TPD has been "watered down". Curiously this is the same message that some tobacco control campaigners are furiously spinning.

Apparently it's all due to Big Tobacco spending millions of pounds lobbying MEPs.

According to the Independent (EU’s ‘shame’ as it caves in to lobbying by tobacco giants over the sale and advertising of cigarettes):

The European Parliament has bowed to intense tobacco industry lobbying and scaled back its proposals to restrict the sale and promotion of cigarettes across Europe.

No mention of the millions of pounds - most of it public money - hoovered up by the tobacco control industry to lobby MEPs in exactly the same way.

The fact is, law-abiding consumers face more regulations including the prohibition of products they have purchased/enjoyed for many years.

The best that can be said is, it could have been worse.

The TPD process is not yet over though so we will continue to write to politicians in Brussels and Westminster as we see fit. If tobacco control campaigners don't like it, tough.

Significantly MEPs rejected proposals to regulate e-cigarettes as medicines. This is a significant victory for a fledgling industry and an impressive example of consumer power.

I'm not sure what impact the European Parliament's decision will have on the UK, though, where e-cigs are due to become a medicinal product from 2016.

The problem is, while member states have to enforce the Tobacco Products Directive (they can't dilute it according to their own national circumstances), they can go further if they want to.

For example, there is nothing to stop Ireland or the UK introducing plain packaging even though it was omitted from the Directive.

It wouldn't make much sense, of course, just as it wouldn't make sense for the Scottish Government to unilaterally introduce plain packaging in Scotland.

It remains a threat, nonetheless.

Anyway, here are links to some reports featuring comments by Forest:

MEPs tighten anti-tobacco laws aimed at young smokers (BBC News)
EU bans packets of 10 and menthol cigarettes (Daily Telegraph)
Menthol cigarettes and packs of 10 to be outlawed (Metro)
EU rules to ban menthol cigarettes (Daily Express)
MEPs vote to tighten anti-tobacco laws, target young smokers (Russia Today)
MEPs vote to tighten cigarette laws (Yorkshire Post)
Menthol cigarettes to be banned (Politics.co.uk)
Ten-packs and flavoured cigarettes to be banned under EU smoking regs (The Grocer)
EU moves to ban sale of cigarettes in packs of ten in bid to cut tobacco use (Daily Mirror)

In Ireland Forest Eireann was quoted by RTE - Tighter controls for tobacco products approved.

I also liked this amusing post by Chris Snowdon, Tobacco Products Directive: the jury is in (Velvet Glove Iron Fist).

And this:

PS. Chris harked on the subject in another of his tweets, but it's interesting to note the widespread coverage the British media gave the Tobacco Products Directive yesterday.

Prior to that (and we're going back several years), they had shown almost no interest at all.

TPD vote generates "mixed feelings"

Here is Forest's response to events in Strasbourg today:

Campaigners said consumers will have "mixed feelings" following a European Parliament vote on the European Commission's proposal for a revised Tobacco Products Directive (TPD).

MEPs voted against a ban on slim cigarettes and rejected a ban on all smaller pouches of roll your own tobacco. (The European Commission wanted to ban pouches of 12.5g and 25g but MEPs voted to allow 20g pouches.)

The Parliament approved a ban on menthol cigarettes but voted to delay implementation for five years.

Angela Harbutt, campaigns manager of the smokers' group Forest which runs the No Thank EU campaign, said:.

"Consumers will have mixed feelings. We welcome the fact that some products have been reprieved while menthol cigarettes have been given a stay of execution, but consumers are still angry that the EU is trying to restrict or ban products they have purchased and enjoyed for many years.

"Prohibition doesn't work and banned products will almost certainly be available on the unregulated black market. Law-abiding consumers will be at a serious disadvantage and it won't help children because criminal gangs don't care who they sell to."

Harbutt dismissed as "gesture politics" the European Parliament's decision to increase the size of the health warning to 65 per cent of the pack.

"Increasing the size of the health warning is gesture politics. It won't stop people smoking because everyone already knows about the health risks of smoking. It's incredibly patronising, even to teenagers, and the impact on smoking rates will be negligible."

Harbutt accused the European Parliament of ignoring the concerns of consumers and retailers.

Forest this week revealed that a letter writing campaign, opposing revisions to the Tobacco Products Directive, had generated almost 45,000 letters to MPs and MEPs in the United Kingdom alone.

See also: MEPs tighten anti-tobacco laws aimed at young smokers (BBC News)

Update: European Lawmakers Reject Tight Restrictions on E-Cigarettes (New York Times)

Update: Here's the European Parliament press release. It should make everything a little clearer.

A very big thank you to everyone who said No Thank EU!

Thanks to everyone who has supported Forest's No Thank EU campaign against revisions to the Tobacco Products Directive.

The campaign was launched at the end of July and it's been a roller coaster ever since. We've overcome all sorts of technical gremlins and here's the result:

THUMBS DOWN FOR TOBACCO PRODUCTS DIRECTIVE

Proposals to ban menthol cigarettes, increase the size of health warnings and prohibit smaller packs of roll your own tobacco have received a firm thumbs down from thousands of consumers throughout the United Kingdom.

Ahead of the European Parliament vote on revisions to the European Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), the smokers’ group Forest has revealed that its No Thank EU campaign generated almost 45,000 letters to MPs and MEPs.

According to Forest 44,675 letters were emailed to politicians in Westminster and Brussels; 6,769 to MPs and 37,906 to UK MEPs.

Simon Clark, director of Forest, said: “The response to our campaign highlights how strongly people feel about these illiberal and potentially irresponsible measures.

“There is no evidence the Directive will reduce smoking rates among children and every chance it will encourage illicit trade. Meanwhile law-abiding adults will be prohibited from buying products they have purchased and enjoyed for many years.”

Forest campaigns manager Angela Harbutt added: “The biggest issue we faced was lack of public awareness of the EU’s plans. We estimate that three quarters of the ten million smokers in the UK are completely in the dark about the proposals. When consumers were told about them they were furious and only too happy to write to their elected representatives.”

Meanwhile, in Strasbourg today, MEPs will finally vote on the Directive following last month's postponement.

I kid you not but there are 198 amendments. God knows how things will pan out but I'll post here as soon as there is something to report.

Watch this space.

Anna Soubry replaced by Jane Ellison as public health minister

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Anna Soubry's extraordinary stint as public health minister will never be forgotten by those who witnessed her behaviour.

If I'm honest, I still have a sneaky admiration for her.

I like feisty politicians and Soubry is certainly that. If she loses her seat at the next election (it's a marginal, I believe) I'm sure she'll go down fighting with all guns blazing.

Moving her to the Ministry of Defence where she's in charge of the army is quite appropriate, really.

I did however lose patience with her towards the end.

Her performance in front of the European Scrutiny Committee was poor. She didn't seem to be on top of her brief.

The proximity of senior civil servant Andrew Black, sitting next to her, also suggested someone who was having her strings pulled.

The independent image she had cultivated suddenly seemed rather hollow.

The final straw was her recent declaration that she started smoking in her teens because of the "glamorous" packaging.

Really? I don't like calling anyone a liar so let's just say it didn't ring true.

Anyway, here are a couple of tweets that were posted this afternoon. They speak for themselves.

Nice to see that Sarah Wollaston has a sense of humour. As it happens I quite like her too!

Questions that the Conservatives, and Jeremy Hunt, need to answer

Big day tomorrow for everyone who has been campaigning against the EU's revised Tobacco Products Directive.

I'll have more information about Forest's No Thank EU campaign in the morning.

In the meantime my colleague Brian Monteith, who edits Forest's Free Society website, has written an excellent article for Conservative Home.

Here's a taste:

Labour MEP Linda MacAvan has made available the letter from Jeremy Hunt that has been sent to all Conservative MEPs. In it he clearly states the UK government’s (and therefore presumably the Prime Minister’s) support of the EU plans. Yes really. In his letter he could not be clearer:

'Ahead of the plenary vote on the proposal for a revised Tobacco Products Directive on 8 October, I wanted to set out how important I think this legislation is to improve public health and protect young people from the harms of tobacco.'

And:

'The UK Government considers the revised Tobacco Products Directive to be crucial to more effective tobacco control across the EU.'

Quite how this fits with the Conservative party’s public stance on Europe is anybody’s guess. It will be interesting to see Conservative MEPs explain to voters on the doorsteps across the next few months how the Conservative party’s decision to hand over public health policy matters to the EU sits with its leader’s commitment to curtail the powers of Europe.

Full article: Government wants to stem flow of powers to Europe so why does it support these new EU-led laws on tobacco? (Conservative Home)

Update: Another Free Society writer, Martin Cullip, has written this article for Spiked – A puffed-up scare over menthol cigarettes.

Worth reading.