700,000 Europeans die from smoking-related illnesses a year and the annual healthcare cost is estimated to be at least 25.3 billion Euros a year. (Pixabay)

RADIO:

Euro MPs on Monday voted to tighten some tobacco regulations aimed at putting young people off smoking, but several proposed measures have not been included.

MEPs have supported a ban on menthol and flavoured cigarettes by 2018.

However, a proposal to treat electronic cigarettes as medicinal products, which campaigners say would help ensure safety, has been rejected.

Nima Green reports for VoR.

European lawmakers have approved a long-fought and divisive anti-smoking bill aimed at making cigarettes less attractive to young people.

However, the failure to agree to several proposals, and the watering down of those that were agreed to, including the five-year delay on banning menthol cigarettes, means that many commentators have criticised this latest amendment to the Directive on Tobacco Products.

One Swedish MEP Carl Schlyter, called the vote a “shameful day for the European Parliament.” 

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