EU: Countries must include children’s outdoor areas in smoke-free policies

Banning smoking in playgrounds and other children’s outdoor areas forms part of proposed stiffer European legislation on smoke-free environments.

The European Commission (EC) is looking to revise current protocols by recommending countries extend their policies to certain key outdoor areas.

Around 700,000 people die every year in the European Union as a result of tobacco consumption, whether through smoking themselves or, in the case of many children and young people, breathing in second-hand smoke.

This proposed revision on smoke-free environments is, says the commission, ‘a direct bid’ to help better protect people from the effects of second-hand smoke and aerosols. It also signifies another step in the EU’s overall drive to ‘de-normalise’ the use of tobacco, tackle addiction and improve preventative health.

The revision calls on EU countries to extend the coverage of smoke-free policies to particular outdoor areas, including those set aside for children like public playgrounds, amusement parks and swimming pools, along with certain public buildings and and transport stops.

‘A direct bid to help better protect young people’

Countries are also urged to extend smoke-free policies to what the EU calls ’emerging products’ like heated tobacco products (HTP) and electronic ‘e-cigarettes’, which are increasingly reaching young users. This is partly in response to the World Health Organization highlighting breathing and cardiovascular problems as a result of exposure to second-hand emissions from these products.

Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: “Every year in the EU, 700,000 persons lose their lives due to tobacco consumption, among which tens of thousands are due to second-hand smoke. In a European Health Union, we have a duty to protect our citizens, in particular children and young people, against exposure to harmful smoke and emissions.”

Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan sets the goal of creating a ‘Tobacco-Free Generation’ by 2040, where less than five per cent of the population uses tobacco. Deaths and other health indicators, such as heart attacks in the general population and improvements to respiratory health, have improved thanks to smoke-free environments.

The Council Recommendation on smoke-free environments was adopted in 2009 and called on EU countries to implement laws to fully protect their citizens from exposure to tobacco smoke in enclosed public places, workplaces and public transport.

Through these latest proposed changes, added Stella Kyriakides, the EC was ‘delivering on yet another key action’ of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and taking an important step towards achieving its long-term objectives of creating a tobacco-free generation by 2040.

Click here for the full list of new European Commission recommendations on smoke-free environments.