European Tobacco Industry: EU wants shocking pictures on cigarette packets

The tobacco industry is up in arms over proposed tough EU guidelines for the sale of cigarettes to protect consumers. Among the plans are explicit pictures showing the dangers of smoking. 

"Imagine that a jumbo jet with 300 passengers crashed every day. People just wouldn't fly anymore," said Martina Pötschke-Langer of the German Cancer Research Center. Some 110,000 die of smoking-related diseases very year, according to the center.

But that doesn't deter many smokers. "The addiction is just too great," Pötschke-Langer added.
A quarter of all German adults regularly light up. The figures are even higher elsewhere: in South Korea, Russia or Bangladesh more than half of all adults smoke.

In Germany, smoking has been a topic of intense debate for years. The smoking ban in bars and public buildings still triggers emotional debate. Each state has enacted its own ban.

In the last couple of days, German media outlets have begun speculating about the European Union's new Tobacco Directive.

It's likely that cigarette packets will soon have to display shocking pictures which graphically underline the dangers of smoking.

Read more: EU wants shocking pictures on cigarette packets | Europe | DW.DE | 18.12.2012