Jim Higgins MEP for the Midlands-North-West (MNW ) this week welcomed the European Parliament's decision to vote in favour of the new Tobacco Products Directive. The new Directive, once final negotiations are completed with Member States, will mean a raft of new measures aimed at stubbing the habit out, especially amongst young people.
Speaking from the European Parliament in Strasbourg, in light of the vote, the Midlands-North-West MEP said "I am delighted with today's vote. It is needed boost in the trans-EU fight against tobacco. Today we voted for new warnings, covering at least 65 per cent of the packaging. We must make smoking as unattractive as possible to young people. We need to stub it out for once and for all."
Other measures approved by the European Parliament in today's vote include, the banning of tobacco products with flavours added. Examples of flavourings include chocolate, fruit flavours and menthol. The banning of slim cigarettes and a new tracking system for tobacco products to combat fraudulent products. It has also been agreed that a unit pack of cigarettes would contain a minimum of 20 cigarettes. These measures would ban lipstick/perfume style cigarettes packets.
