EU tobacco controls and the importance of gender : time to ban slim and superslim cigarettes

Abstract

The global tobacco industry have been targeting women smokers for over a century. In recent years there has been a significant growth in smoking rates among women and girls. In many Western countries, girls and young women now smoke at higher rates than their male counterparts. One area in which there has been significant growth is in the market share of slim and super-slim cigarettes. These thin diameter and extra-long cigarettes are often described as more feminine, glamorous, sexy and elegant, and as such have made dramatic inroads into declining cigarette markets in Europe. An early draft of the European Union’s (2014) Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) sought to ban the sale of such cigarettes. This prohibition was later removed. This commentary argues that in light of a need to mainstream gender equity in health and the significant growth in sales of slim and super-slim cigarettes the EU should ban sales of these cigarettes as soon as possible. In the absence of such a centralised approach, individual EU countries should follow the lead of New Zealand and ban them unilaterally.