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The European parliament is set to vote on the new tobacco directive October 8 in Strasbourg, reports Le Soir.
MEPs will decide on 189 amendments to the text adopted in July by the parliament’s health committee. The bill “planned [...] to outlaw slim cigarettes and certain flavours like menthol, products that have been specially developed to appeal to young consumers and women. [...] It also stipulates larger dimensions for the ‘frightening photos’ on three-quarters of packets [...] and provides for restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes, which are to be regulated as medical products, whose efficiency and safety will be monitored.”
“If they are adopted, the 189 amendments will do away with this progress,” notes Le Soir, which writes of intervention by the cigarette producers lobby. Some countries “have been scared off by the assurance that they will lose income,” explains a Belgian MEP quoted by the newspaper.
