Tobacco control in Europe: a policy review

Abstract

Tobacco is responsible for the death of 6 million people every year globally, of whom 700 000 are in Europe. Effective policies for tobacco control exist; however, the status of their implementation varies across the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. In order to tackle the tobacco epidemic, action has been taken though the implementation of both legally binding and non-legally binding measures. This article aims to present the achievements and challenges of tobacco control in Europe, focussing on the available legally binding instruments such as the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive at the European Union level. Tobacco still faces heavy lobbying of the tobacco industry, which has systematically contrasted policies to achieve public health objectives. The legal instruments for tobacco control in Europe presented here are not always adequately enforced in all the countries and there is certainly room for improving their implementation. Finally, the need for a strong political commitment towards the end-game of the tobacco epidemic is emphasised. @ERSpublications We can stop the epidemic of tobacco-related diseases but we need political commitment to the endgame of this epidemic http://ow.ly/10lEFC

Tobacco control policies and smoking among older adults: a longitudinal analysis of 10 European countries

“…Comprehensive tobacco control policies have been introduced in many European countries during the last 2 decades, especially since the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was signed in 2004 [1,2]. Earlier studies suggested an important impact of these policies on smoking behaviours, both separately [2][3][4][5] and as a comprehensive package [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Furthermore, some policies such as increasing tobacco prices were found to be more effective for low socioeconomic status (SES) individuals [12][13][14], hence potentially reducing socio-economic inequalities in smoking.…”

The changing face of theEuropean Respiratory Review

“…The second one, "Health and Politics", is dedicated to more general public health issues (air pollution, European legislation and critique of health systems). The first issue set the pace for the following articles through the contribution of Roberto Bertollini and colleagues from the World Health Organization on European policies against smoking [8].…”

Trends in Cigarette Smoking among Middle-Aged Lithuanian Subjects Participating in the Primary Prevention Program between 2009 and 2016

“…In comparison with other WHO regions, the main difference of smoking prevalence in Europe is that the number of female smokers is much higher making the gap between the prevalence of smoking men and women very small, especially in countries such as Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and the UK [17]. In the latest data of Eurostat, the gender difference of smoking prevalence was estimated in percentage points and showed that countries with higher smoking rates had a bigger gender difference—there was a 24.4% in Lithuania, 15.5 % in Bulgaria and 12.0% in Greece between the prevalence rates of male and female smokers.…”