Control of tobacco and alcohol advertising and on measures to curb the consumption of these products

Recommendation 716 (1973)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 26 and 27 September 1973 (10th, 11th and 13th Sittings) (see Doc. 3323, report of the Committee on Social and Health Questions). Text adopted by the Assembly on 27 September 1973 (13th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Observing that the consumption of alcohol and tobacco is increasing constantly, and that these products can have serious effects on health ;

2. Considering that the public is encouraged to consume such products by advertising which frequently connects tobacco and alcohol with success in life, unspoilt nature and a world of well-being ;

3. Considering that such advertising exerts a considerable influence, particularly on young people who very often are misled into believing that it is essential to smoke and drink in order to belong to the adult world ;

4. Considering that tax revenue derived from the sale of alcohol and tobacco is very substantial, and that member governments spend little in order to combat the dangers of excessive consumption whose financial consequences are to a large extent borne by the public authorities and often exceed the tax revenue itself ;

5. Considering that many road accidents are caused by drivers who are under the influence of alcohol ;

6. Considering that any government policy to improve the health of the population should include measures to reduce the dangers of the use and misuse of alcohol and tobacco, and in particular a determined information campaign ;

7. Observing that, subject to legal restrictions, existing or projected, the fundamental responsibility for the use of tobacco and alcohol rests with the individual,

8. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers invite member governments :

a to study the social and psychological causes of excessive drinking and smoking, in order to improve prevention and facilitate early detection of disease ;

b to provide a greater range of socio-medical services for the treatment of smokers and alcoholics who wish to put an end to their addiction, and to subsidise organisations active in the field ;

c to subsidise organisations combating the abuse of alcohol and tobacco ;

d to regulate strictly or forbid advertising of tobacco and alcohol on television and radio, and to limit advertising of these products in general, particularly in the press, theatres, streets, public places and sport stadiums, taking as a model Resolution AP (69) 3 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe entitled "Regulations governing the advertising of medicines to the public" ;

e to undertake, in view of the large tax revenue derived from these products, a determined information campaign on the risks involved in their consumption ;

f to emphasise in this information campaign the extent to which children's behaviour is conditioned by that of their parents ;

g to include in the school curriculum, throughout its duration, objective information on the dangers of tobacco and alcohol ;

h to encourage teachers to attend regular information courses on drinking and smoking, and on psychological ways of reducing the consumption of tobacco and alcohol by young people, and to inform their pupils on the risks of alcohol and tobacco consumption ;

i to forbid the use of tobacco on all forms of public transport and in waiting-rooms of government services, unless a special non-smokers' compartment or room is provided ;

j to promote research into ways of manufacturing less harmful cigarettes ;

k to increase duties on particularly harmful products containing tobacco and alcohol ;

l to make it obligatory that cigarette packets carry a health warning and information on tar and nicotine content ;

m to apply fully the recommendations made in Resolution (73) 7 on "punishment of road traffic offences committed whilst driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol", adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 22 March 1973, in particular its paragraph I, sub-paragraphs 1 and 2, recommending that the alcohol level in the blood at which any person driving a vehicle is liable to punishment should be fixed at a maximum of 80 mg/ 100 ml, and to take steps to reduce this limit to a level of 50 mg/100 ml ;

n to prohibit the manufacture and sale of cigarettes containing more than 1 mg of nicotine or 15 mg of tar, and to encourage manufacturers to eliminate tar completely ;

o to publish regularly a list of the various brands of cigarettes on sale in individual countries with an analysis of their harmful factors.