The European Parliament rejected anti-tobacco laws Tuesday morning, which called for a ban on menthol tobacco products, e-cigarettes for medicinal use only and verbal and graphic health warnings covering 75 percent of the cigarette package, according to Reuters.
The European Parliament voted on postponing the ban on menthol tobacco for eight more years, will allow for e-cigarettes to be sold without the notion they are an aide to quit smoking and cigarette packages will display verbal health warnings on 65 percent of the box.
The European Commission backed the anti-tobacco proposals, but parliament said they were "to harsh of laws" and instead voted on the "watering down" of the proposed tobacco legislation due to extreme lobbying by tobacco companies, Reuters reported.
According to internal Philip Morris documents leaked to the media and seen by Reuters, lobbyists held over 250 meetings with members of parliament to discuss the legislation, especially with members of the European People's Party and with conservatives from countries where cigarettes are manufactured.
Parliament argued the voted tobacco legislation is still an improvement from the current law that states 30 percent of the front of cigarette packages, and 40 percent of the back must have verbal health warnings, not graphics. Parliament also insists that the laws passed on Tuesday will still alter tobacco packaging and will add pictures.
The eight-year delay on menthol tobacco products is the main concern of anti-tobacco lawmakers who state studies show flavored cigarettes entice young smokers and can act as a gateway to other tobacco products.
The world's largest tobacco company, Philip Morris, lobbied hard against the Commission's original proposal, and told Reuters that "today's vote in the European Parliament has introduced marginal improvement in some areas, but has still failed to take into account the views of millions of EU citizens," in regards to the many jobs created by the tobacco industry.
In Europe, 700,000 citizens die from tobacco-related causes each year, and the scaling back on anti-tobacco laws by Parliament were not expected by the commission. A senior official told Reuters that he warned the Commission last week that "the level of lobbying at the moment exceeds any campaign that has gone on in the parliament in recent years."
The EPP believes different and said the vote was appropriate and Europe would still have strong tobacco legislation.
"I would have preferred stricter measures, but I welcome the fact that... we managed to avoid inappropriate steps such as a call for the introduction of plain packaging," said Karl-Heinz Florenz, who lead discussions on the proposals for the EPP.
According to Reuters, the Commission, parliament and EU member states will now vote on a compromise with the aim of passing the Tobacco Products Directive before May of 2014 despite the intense lobbying of the tobacco industry.
