The European Parliament approved in Strasbourg with a very large majority (560 yes, 92 no, 32 abstentions) the new rules for cigarettes. According to the amendments voted by deputies, shock images and consumer health warnings will have to cover 65% of cigarette packets and will have to be at the top. Furthermore, menthol flavoring must be abolished within eight years.
After the plenary vote, negotiations with the Council will have to begin to define the final text. And conflicting opinions are expected between the Industry Commission and the Environment and Health Commission. With the former more attentive to the interests of a chain such as that of tobacco which - from agricultural production to distribution - in Italy alone has 200.000 people and the latter instead lined up on the line of discouraging as much as possible the 'vice' which - according to data from the European Commission – is “the first cause of avoidable risk to health”. And that would cause 700.000 deaths a year, counting all the possible diseases related to smoking.
