EU TOBACCO SUBSIDIES AND HEALTH POLICY

That this House welcomes the important research in the British Medical Journal citing that European Union tobacco subsidies are a misuse of public funds and reflect fundamental contradictions in EU health policy; agrees that the 1992 reforms of the tobacco subsidy system have had little impact and that two thirds of EU production is of tobacco of low commercial value and is exported to Central and Eastern European and developing countries; notes that the main subsidy to the farmer was increased by about 20 per cent, in 1995 to reach a projected total of 1,106m Ecu in 1996; concurs that it would be much cheaper to give farmers direct income support rather than subsidising them to grow tobacco; notes that the EU spends about 1,000m Ecu (ú800m) a year subsidising tobbacco production but only about 1.55m Ecu (ú1.2m) on smoking prevention and condemns this huge disparity; and calls on the Government to press for the abolition of the EU's indefensible tobacco subsidies.