Citizens Rally for a Tobacco-free European Union

Our European citizens’ initiative “Call to achieve a tobacco-free environment and the first European tobacco-free generation by 2023” wants to help phase out tobacco from all European Union member states for good. We, Nofumadores  and the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP), have teamed up with 37 organisations from 19 countries to achieve this, as we do not want to pass this scourge to the next generation. We are asking for the progressive abolition of tobacco and nicotine product sales throughout the EU.

As Bob Dylan's lyrics say, “How many times can a man turn his head and pretend he just doesn't see?'' We are asking the EU to wake up about Big Tobacco and finally take decisive action. How many dead people and teenage generations have to become slaves of nicotine for a lifetime before authorities end this industry-created, preventable pandemic and set them free? 

As citizens of the Union, we are taking matters into our own hands. Tobacco and nicotine products are simply too addictive and too harmful to remain legal even for another day. However, we are vowing for a deferred ban, following the path already started by New Zealand. New ones will not replace those old smokers. Beginning with those born in 2010, these EU citizens will never be able to buy tobacco legally. Current smokers would still be able to continue with their habit, possession or consumption would not be criminalized, as it is mainly a ban on sales. However, society would foster any measure to help them quit, from cessation aids to declaring most spaces smoke-free.

In particular, we think it is necessary to:

1. Promote the first tobacco-free European generation by 2028, ending the sale of tobacco and nicotine products to citizens born after 2010.
2. Create an European Net of tobacco-free and butts-free beaches and riverbanks, making this spaces more healthy and environmentally sustainable.
3. Establish an European Net of tobacco-free and butts-free National Parks making them more healthy and reducing contamination and risk of fires.
4. Extend outdoor smoke and vapor free spaces, especially those frequented by minors (parks, swimming pools, sports events and centers, shows and restaurants terraces).
5. Eliminate tobacco advertising and presence in audiovisual production, social media, specially addressing covert advertising through influencers and product placement.
6. Finance R&D projects for diseases caused by tobacco use to improve their prognosis and make them curable.

We believe the EU is not protecting teenagers from predatory tobacco corporations 

Spanish teenagers start smoking at 13.9 years old. Tobacco stores do not regularly ask for an ID, and single cigarettes are sold at convenience stores illegally without any consequences. Flavored e-cigarettes are currently reaching epidemic levels by being sold virtually anywhere to children that share them during recess. It’s a problem shared by the rest of the EU countries. All in all, 15% of all Europeans 15-24 years old are smokers. By comparison, underage smoking in the USA has reached the lowest historic point in a century, as only 2% of teenagers consume cigarettes, making e-cigarettes a new primary concern.

It is essential to state that, for the Tobacco Industry, coercing teenagers is vital to surviving. Almost no one takes up cigarette smoking after 21. Nine out of ten new smokers start lighting up cigarettes or any other nicotine product around the age of 14 (it may vary slightly in every country). These corporations use predatory practices with underage European citizens to grease their profit wheels. That’s why our initiative urges the European Commission to eliminate tobacco advertising and presence in audiovisual productions and social media, especially addressing covert advertising through influencers and product placement. We must protect future generations. 

The EU promises to fight against significant health scrouges

We have reached a situation where 27% of all cancers can be attributed to cigarette smoking. Tobacco causes over 8 million premature deaths worldwide and diminishes the quality of life for many people, including COPD, emphysema, stroke and such. We are asking the EU to live up to its mission, as article 168 of the TFEU says: “A high level of human health protection shall be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities. Union action (...) shall be directed towards improving public health (...). Such action shall cover the fight against the major health scourges”. Well, “health scourge” is the definition of this entirely preventable for-profit, greed-driven pandemic fostered by heartless, amoral corporations.  

Why is it called abolition and not prohibition?

Governments routinely ban or limit activities or products deemed hurtful. Nobody thinks of these measures as “prohibitions”. Big Tobacco has created and maintained a false comparison with the alcohol prohibition in the USA during the early 20s. We reject this. Cigarette makers still use this bogeyman to look the other way while the industry rests on targeting up to minors to survive, all while lobbying tooth and nail against enlarging smoke-free spaces. Tobacco use is unlike other threats to global health, as infectious diseases do not employ multinational public relations firms. There are no front groups to promote the spread of Covid or malaria. 

The fact is that cigarettes are not like beer; they are by far more deadly, as only 5 per cent of people who drink become addicted. By contrast, over 80 per cent of people who smoke do. Besides, most smokers do not enjoy their habits and constantly think about quitting. That’s why we call for abolition, as you would call to abolish child labor, torture or slavery. Accepting the term “prohibition” is to play the narrative these legal drug dealers created.

Tobacco is a burden to our health and wealth 

Cigarettes are so harmful that the EU should pave the way to demand reparations for all the damage caused to society and the planet by the Tobacco Industry. 

The tobacco industry´s arguments about being big taxpayers are part of the narrative we need to debunk. Money comes from citizens losing their health, enriching only a predatory minority of stakeholders. If the citizens were not using their money to buy tobacco, they would be using it to purchase other goods, such as nutritious foods, education, sports and culture, which, in the end, will also generate wealth at various levels.

Big Tobacco always forgets to mention the burden caused on health systems by the products they sell. They are not only the leading cause of preventable death in the EU but, for every euro collected in taxes, treating the consequences costs society at least three times more. We should tax them into extinction. 

The environmental toll 

Filters are made from non-biodegradable plastic called cellulose acetate and take a decade to degrade. When they do, they break down into smaller microplastics, entering the food chain while fish consume them. Cigarette butts pollute up to 50 liters of water with nicotine and tar. It is estimated that 4.5 trillion cigarette buts are disposed of annually, and they are the single-most littered item found at the sea bottom.  

A net of European Smoke-free beaches, riversides and forests would eliminate one of the most toxic contaminants of the ocean and earth and transform them into places that families can enjoy without tobacco smoke and cigarette butt litter.

Take action now! 

We have already teamed up with 37 organizations from 19 countries to end this industry-created pandemic. It will take considerable effort to reach one million signatures to take this European citizens’ initiative to safe harbor. Millions of European citizens detest cigarettes and the industry behind them, demanding tighter regulations. 

Staffing, resources and money are essential and key to advertising our ECI and fully engaging with European citizens. It’s brutal competition keeping in mind that our opponent is the powerful and wealthy Tobacco Industry.

We need every EU citizen to sign this Initiative. Tobacco Giants have gotten away with murder. They have built and sustained a narrative through lies and deception. If the EU wants to keep being a beacon of freedom and light, the EU Parliament and Council will abolish tobacco sales. Is this the moment of truth? As Bob Dylan sang, “How many deaths will it take ´til he knows how many people have died?” The answer may be blow in’ the wind full of smoke, teenage addiction, stroke, heart disease, cancer and deforestation. Still, it is also in the hands of our elected officials and in your hands by signing, promoting and sharing this citizens’ initiative.  

If you are an EU citizen, please head to European Citizens' Initiative (europa.eu) and sign! If you are not an EU citizen, please help us spread the word by sharing on social media and with your EU friends and family.

Visit the initiative website here:  Tobacco Free Europe – European Citizens' Initiative – Tobacco Free Europe (ensp.network)

Visit the initiative's official page here: Initiative detail | European Citizens' Initiative (europa.eu)