European Union calls for ban on menthol cigarettes

The European Union executive has called for strongly flavoured cigarettes to be banned, and unveiled legislation imposing graphic images of the risks of smoking on all cigarette packaging.

Reporting that 700,000 people die in Europe every year from smoking-related diseases, the costs of treatment for which run to €25 billion (HK$256 billion) plus a further €8 billion in lost productivity, the European Commission outlined a range of measures aimed at curbing smoking.

"We're not prohibiting smoking; we're making it less attractive for everyone," said Health Ciommissioner Tonio Borg, of Malta. "Sometimes you need shocking pictures to shock people into stopping smoking."

The draft directive, or EU law, unveiled on Wednesday still needs to be endorsed by EU governments and the European parliament, so it could be three years before the measures take effect.

The proposed legislation would ban cigarettes with a "characterising flavour", such as menthol, strawberry or vanilla, on the grounds that they encourage young people to start smoking.

"If it's tobacco, it should look like tobacco and taste like tobacco," Borg said.

And pictorial health warnings, rather than verbal ones, are to become mandatory, covering at least 75 per cent of cigarette packets.