April 2, 2000
Thank you Mr Minister for accepting our "rendez-vous". May I ask you to introduce yourself ?
Hello Philippe. I'm Michael Martin and I am the Minister for Health and Children in the Irish Government. Before my appointment to this post I was Minister for Education and Science I am a full time public representative and before that I was a teacher.
1. The "Towards a Tobacco Free Society" report has just been put on line http://www.doh.ie/publications/tobacco.html.
It is 90 pages long but can you tell us about the measures you consider most important and the context.
Why new measures now?
I think it is important that we recognise the very serious harm tobacco use causes in our community. It is an addictive product that kills half of those who use it. Over 6000 people die each year in Ireland from smoking tobacco.
But its use is long established and endemic in our society. To change this will take effort and commitment over a long period of time. It is, I believe, important that we have a clear sense of mission and a clear strategy. To give effect to the strategy we need to adopt specific plans. The strategy and the plans can vary in light of experience and circumstances but the mission should remain constant over time.
It is very important that this Mission is owned by as many people as possible and I hope that our policy "Towards a Tobacco Free Society" will serve as an instrument to extend that sense of ownership
Our mission is to promote a tobacco free society. This, to me, is the only moral objective an Irish government or a Minister for Health can have.
Political and professional debates should be focused on how we achieve that.
I have adopted very detailed proposals and it is open to anyone to debate these measures and to suggest more effective ones. I am not, however, open to any special interest lobbying which would dilute or diminish my proposals.
Ireland has always been to the forefront in dealing with tobacco or health.
We were one of the first countries to introduce restrictions on advertising and our approach to banning sponsorship by the industry has now become the international standard. These measures yielded very valuable results reducing our smoking prevalence from about 45% to around 30%. But it is also very clear that we have at best plateaued at this level and our existing measures are on their own unlikely to help us make any further inroads into the problem. New measures are, therefore, necessary.
My biggest concern is the number of children (many as young as 10 and 11 years of age) smoking and becoming addicted. No civilised society can regard this as acceptable. It is also evident that the tobacco industry has not shown the regard and care for our children that we would expect from a responsible industry. My first priority is, therefore, to ensure we protect children from the inducements to experiment with tobacco. I regard the complete ban on advertising and sponsorship as essential instruments to give effect to that protection. I have already instructed the tobacco industry not to spend any further monies on advertising or sponsorship with effect from July this year.
It is also true that the price barrier is very powerful in protecting children. This barrier is made up of a number of constituents viz. taxation, minimum pack sizes, retail price management. My government raised taxes on tobacco products in our last Budget by 50 pence. This is the single highest increase ever in the history of the State.
2. In many European countries the administrative services in charge of tobacco control are still very small, when they exist. I have been told about the creation of an Office for Tobacco Control with an annual budget of IR£600 million and a staff of around 10. How did you come up with such a decision and when is it going to be implemented?
As I said to achieve our mission we need to adopt very definite strategies and action plans and we need to resource these plans in a realistic manner.
We will not attain a tobacco free society simply by wishful thinking.
I have identified an indicative budget for all initiatives when they are fully operational of about IR£20million per annum which is about £40 per smoker per annum. I think this is a very modest sum.
The decision to establish a distinct Office of Tobacco Control was made to ensure that the action plan will be sustained over a period of time. It is important that we establish management mechanisms driven by learning organisations capable of self-renewal. We are providing for independent monitoring of our actions against the stated objectives and we are also establishing a Tobacco Free Council which will be comprised of social leaders who will offer guidance and support in this important mission.
3. The UK is struggling with a big smuggling problem because their prices are much higher than on the continent. How about Ireland?
It would be naive to assume we are immune from smuggling of tobacco products.
But our Gardai and our Custom Officers have had considerable success in dealing with this problem in recent years. I do not, incidentally, accept that price differentials are the critical determinants in the level of smuggling in any society. It takes a well-established criminal network to effect a distribution of illicit products on an economically significant scale. This is a wider issue than tobacco control.
In general smuggled product is being sourced, at present quite legally, from legitimate manufacturers. What measures is the tobacco industry taking to prevent smuggling? What "end user" controls has it introduced to ensure its products are distributed solely through legitimate retail systems? Given the dangers of the product and the criminal nature of smuggling would not any responsible industry co-operate and assist the authorities in every way to end smuggling?
The Dail (Irish parliament) recently published a report of its enquiry into the tobacco industry. It now proposes to continue that enquiry with added legal powers to compel witnesses and documents. With these extra powers it will, I expect, be able to delve deeper into matters such as tobacco smuggling.
4. The report underlines the international aspects of tobacco control and refers specifically to the European Union level (p. 52) Looking at the budget devoted by the Commission to tobacco control it seems very low and there is no European Office for Tobacco Control. Don't you think the choice you have made at the national level for such an office could also apply at the European level? Do you think your initiative in Ireland could have an influence on Commissioner David Byrne who is in charge of these questions in Brussels?
I think that each Government and indeed the European Commission must determine their own course of action. I recognise that the tobacco industry is, perhaps more than most, a global one and that it is capable of standing outside the regulatory framework of any one country when promoting its products into that market. We need a global regulatory response. It is a shared problem for all societies and it is especially a growing one for the emerging nations. The developed countries and especially the European Union have a responsibility to offer global leadership against tobacco use. I believe that this is being done through the World Health Organisation with the proposed internationally treaty "The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control." which I strongly support. Obviously I would welcome greater allocation of resources to this issue generally. We all benefit from each other's efforts.
5. The health warnings put on the packs are to be discussed again at the European level and your report does support improved labelling. The Commission's proposal as it stands now is much lower than what is now planned in Canada and quite far from what the cancer experts had suggested in 96 (generic packaging by the year 2000, quitline number, etc.). What is your position on this issue? Would you be ready to go farther at the national level? at the European level ?
The Directive you refer to is the subject of on going discussions at working party level. I am satisfied that we will eventually agree a Common Position in Europe that will greatly strengthen our hand in this matter. It is no secret that Ireland advocates very tough measures in this area but an agreed Common Position among all the Member States of the European Union which is properly enforced is of more value to us than simply acting unilaterally at a national level.
Do you have anything else you would like to add?
I would like to thank you for this opportunity to discus our plan "Towards a Tobacco Free Society" I would welcome an international discussion on the document and hope that it helps stimulate both debate and action.
Thank you Mr Minister for taking the time to be with us today.
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