To be sold in Europe, packets of cigarettes produced from Monday May 20 must have a unique and tamper-proof identifier.
To curb cigarette trafficking, each packet destined for the European market will now bear an identifier, pursuant to a European directive. In France, “these packets will only arrive on the market in about two months”, the State having “taken a lot of delay”, explains a tobacco company to AFP.
A series of codes and a thumbnail
As with banknotes, the marking of the packets includes a series of codes and a sticker. The unique identifier must make it possible to know where the package comes from, and the sticker guarantees the authenticity of the product. As a general rule, traffickers “resell large quantities of tobacco directly from factories to intermediaries, who then bring this tobacco back by truck or boat to countries where tobacco is expensive, or over-supply countries such as Andorra or Luxembourg, where taxation is low and packages are inexpensive”, explains Michèle Rivasi, outgoing MEP and number 2 on the EELV list for the European elections.
The illicit trade in cigarettes “poses a serious threat to public health” by increasing access to cheaper products, “fueling the tobacco epidemic and undermining tobacco control policies”, estimates the WHO. It also leads to “consequent loss of income” for governments – sometimes estimated at 3 billion euros for France – and contributes to financing “criminal activities and terrorism”.
Last May, Santé Publique France announced that France now had one million fewer smokers, going from 13.2 million tobacco users to 12.2 million. The prevalence of daily smoking fell from 29.4% in 2016 to 26.9% in 2017, a decrease of 2.5 points. This observation is particularly marked among men aged 18 to 24 (44% in 2016 vs 35% in 2017) and among women aged 55 to 64 (21% vs 18% in 2017).
78,000 deaths per year
78,000 deaths per year are caused by smoking in France, making it the leading cause of avoidable death. It can be the cause of multiple cancers (lung, throat, mouth, lips, pancreas, kidneys, bladder, uterus, esophagus). But also cardiovascular diseases (myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accidents, arteritis of the lower limbs, aneurysms, arterial hypertension) and erectile dysfunction.
Other pathologies have a link or are aggravated by smoking: gastritis, peptic ulcers, type II diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, eczema, psoriasis, lupus, ENT infections (nose – throat – ears) and teeth, cataracts and AMD (Age-Related Macular Degeneration) which can lead to blindness. Not to mention periodontitis, gum disease that causes loosening and loss of teeth.
