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Social Report 2006/2007
Smoking in Public Places
British American Tobacco supports an EU-wide smoking ban in indoor workplaces and public places with limited exemptions. We are keen to discuss practical and reasonable solutions that can support public policy as part of the process of debate started by the Commission’s Green Paper.
Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) has long been, and remains, an issue which arouses strong feelings and vigorous debate among both the general public and regulators alike. Public health bodies, including the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United States Surgeon General have concluded that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is a cause of various serious diseases including lung cancer, heart disease and respiratory illnesses in children. They conclude that there is no known safe level of ETS exposure and hence advise that public health policy would be best served by bans on smoking in indoor public places.
The requirement upon Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to take action to promote smoke free environments has accelerated the existing trend for growth in regulation of smoking in public places, in the EU and elsewhere. Both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom now have comprehensive restrictions on smoking in indoor workplaces and during 2007 over half of all EU member states have either taken, or expressed the intention to take, regulatory measures to restrict smoking at the workplace. This activity mirrors the desire of the Commission, set out in its 2007 Green Paper on smoke free environments* that member states should be encouraged and supported to move towards greater controls on smoking in indoor public places.
We favour restrictions on smoking in enclosed public places and accept that there needs to be regulation. For instance, British American Tobacco supports an EU-wide smoking ban in indoor workplaces and public places with limited exemptions.
We are keen to discuss practical and reasonable solutions that can support public policy as part of the consultation process launched by the Commission’s Green Paper.
The stakeholder dialogue sessions on ETS and smoking in public places revealed that stakeholders expect British American Tobacco to be less defensive in this area, to engage in debate and commit to being part of the solution. They also expect us to use our influence to persuade our industry colleagues to act similarly; to network relevant information, including scientific research; to support research on the impact of smoking bans and to help develop standards for air quality. The following section sets out our response to these expectations.
* Green Paper on smoke free environments official title - "Towards a Europe free from tobacco smoke: policy options at EU level" (report available here).
Expectations
- Take a less defensive position on smoking in public places, commit to being part of the solution and focus on the opportunities for positive action.
- Actively engage in the debate on the European Commission Green Paper on smoke free environments.
- Influence industry associations to align their position to our (revised) views on smoking in public places.
- Add links to relevant scientific research on the company website.
- Make all information relevant to the PPS debate publicly available.
- Take a broader view of the impact of smoking bans.
- Support efforts to introduce a standard framework for collecting data on the impact of smoking restrictions.
- Help define air quality standards and invest in initiatives to improve it.
Expectation
- Take a less defensive position on smoking in public places, commit to being part of the solution and focus on the opportunities for positive action.
- Actively engage in the debate on the European Commission Green Paper on smoke free environments.
- Influence industry associations to align their position to our (revised) views on smoking in public places.
Response
British American Tobacco, together with other industry members in the Confederation of European Community Cigarette Manufacturers (CECCM), has made a submission to the EU Commission in response to the Green Paper on smoke free environments, in which we support an EU-wide smoking ban in indoor workplaces and public places with limited exemptions. We believe that the measures proposed in this submission represent a proportionate response to the issue of smoking in public places and for all practical purposes avoid involuntary exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in enclosed public places and workplaces in the EU.
The full text of the submission can be found here.
In addition, we have also worked with the colleagues of the European Smoking Tobacco Association (ESTA) and of the European Cigar Manufacturers Association (ECMA) on submissions that reflect British American Tobacco's position on smoking in public places.
The full text of the ESTA submissions can be found here.
The full text of the ECMA submission can be found here.
In total over 300 contributions were received from namely the European institutions, national, regional and local authorities, health related organisations, tobacco organisations and the social partners.
The link to these contributions, as well as to the Commission's report on the Green Paper consultation can be found here.
Furthermore, British American Tobacco supports wholeheartedly the European Commission's proposed establishment of a wide platform process to discuss the smoking in public places issue (page 17 of the Green Paper). This process would bring together civil society and economic operators as well as the representatives of EU institutions, member states and international organisations. Such a platform already exists in the area of diet and physical activity and has recently been proposed for the development of an EU-wide strategy on alcohol and health.
Commitments
Expectation
- Add links to relevant scientific research on the company website.
Response
The content of the global British American Tobacco website (www.bat.com) has been revised recently and now includes links to relevant documents on environmental tobacco smoke produced by the World Health Organisation, the US Surgeon General and the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Commitments
Expectation
- Make all information relevant to the PPS debate publicly available.
Response
We understand this expectation to refer to the impact of smoking restrictions rather than the science which we have dealt with under previous expectation.
In the vast majority of cases, the information quoted by British American Tobacco concerning the impact of smoking restrictions is already in the public domain. If we take the case of Ireland, tobacco sales data comes from the Irish Government for whom it is compiled on a monthly basis by an independent accounting firm. Similarly, data on the turnover and volumes sales of the hospitality industry is taken from the website operated by the Irish Government's Central Statistics Office.
Commitments
Expectation
- Take a broader view of the impact of smoking bans.
Response
British American Tobacco analyses all available data from respected research agencies or Governments when smoking restrictions are introduced in Europe. The focus is on the impact on the tobacco and hospitality industries. We also commission research to understand any changes in individual smokers' behaviour or consumption patterns. An example of this is a study we are undertaking in Scotland where we analyse the filters of cigarettes smoked by consumers to see if the way they smoke the product has altered since the smoking restrictions came into force. Our views will be based on an analysis of this data and future research.
Stakeholders can make enquiries as to whether we have information on specific aspects of the impact of smoking restrictions. The best way to communicate with British American Tobacco is via the feedback form on the EU social reporting website.
Commitments
Expectation
- Support efforts to introduce a standard framework for collecting data on the impact of smoking restrictions.
Response
The data available and the speed with which it appears vary dramatically between countries, which makes it difficult to construct a standard framework. Specially commissioned research can risk being not truly representative, and must begin at least 12 months before smoking restrictions are introduced in order to give historical comparative data.
Commitments
Expectation
- Help define air quality standards and invest in initiatives to improve it.
Response
The CECCM response to the Green Paper advocates the use of ventilation in places which are exempt from the ban, and specifically mentions this area as being one where the members of CECCM would be happy to share their knowledge as part of the wide platform process.
British American Tobacco has invested globally in ventilation in Horeca outlets to demonstrate its effectiveness in significantly reducing the levels of particulate matter and gases, whether or not these are associated with ETS. Such showcases already exist in 10 member states of the EU, where tests were executed in some 15 outlets in those markets. The results, which show an improvement in air quality, are available on demand.
We have also made a submission to the European Commission and the Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) consultation on indoor air quality.
Commitments
