More than one in five young people are hooked on cigarettes. And cigarettes will kill one in two smokers. The EU wants to discourage us from smoking before we even start.

A-Z: T for Tobacco

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/16259299/j002-0122-en.srt

Over one in five young people are hooked  on cigarettes and smoke daily.

And cigarettes will kill  one in two smokers.

It wants to discourage us from smoking  before we even start. War on tobacco!

Every year the EU relaunches its call  for a tobacco-free Europe

with light-hearted  anti-smoking campaigns.

But every year 700,000 Europeans die  from tobacco-related diseases.

And 7 smokers in 10 have  their first cigarette before they're 18.

The EU is toughening its stance  and the rules.

The aim is to put us off cigarettes  before our first puff.

We may convince  one smoker or another to stop,

is to prevent young people  from starting to smoke.

'Smoking kills' is well-known. It's on every  pack of cigarettes with shocking pictures.

Well, with the new rules on tobacco  the warnings will have to be even bigger.

They'll cover 75% of the packaging  for cigarettes and rolling tobacco.

And in addition to these warnings,  the packaging must clearly indicate

that tobacco smoke contains  over 70 carcinogenic chemicals.

That means they cause cancer.  Convinced?

It's a very good idea.  -The pictures are already quite shocking.

The pictures don't work for young people.  They think they haven't smoked enough.

People avoid smoking  because it's horrible to see.

There's no point.  Leave the packs as they are.

I don't know if it's good. I hope it changes.  -You think it will work?

You've got to want to stop.  -It'll change nothing.

It's hard to persuade smokers  to give up cigarettes for good.

The new anti-tobacco rules  target the very first cigarette.

The tactic is to ban anything  that makes it attractive, like branding.

And the industry can't mask  the real taste of tobacco -

tar and nicotine - with flavouring  like vanilla or menthol. Yuck!

And there's no question anymore  of producing so-called 'light' tobacco.

Watch out for the length of cigarettes.  The longer they are, the cooler they are.

It's a cigarette. Not having branding  won't stop you buying.

I don't know many people  who started on cigarettes with flavours.

I don't think it'll work.  -I don't say it'll work but I hope it does,

See what it can do to you, in hospitals.  -Put the price up.

We'll whisper that to the EU. It's not  just the smokers it needs to convince.

It's not easy, because the taxes  on cigarettes bring in a lot of money.

Some countries earn up to  75 billion euros per year from tobacco.

That's massive! So a tobacco-free Europe  won't happen just yet.

But if all goes well,  the new anti-tobacco rules

should be adopted by the Parliament  next year.