BRUSSELS — Thousands of anonymous pro-tobacco comments poured into an EU consultation on raising cigarette and nicotine taxes — a surge that anti-tobacco campaigners say was engineered by the industry to drown out public health voices.
There were 18,480 responses, approximately nine times the average for EU consultations, when the feedback period closed Oct. 31. A huge amount of posts arrived within minutes and the vast majority supported the industry, analysis by tobacco control consultancy Impact Unfiltered found. Responses from France, Italy and Sweden made up 68 percent.
Thousands of the posts use terms created only by the sector. For example, more than 6,000 mentioned “harm reduction” to describe products such as e-cigarettes — an industry narrative to describe these products compared with conventional cigarettes. And more than 8,000 raised concerns about illicit tobacco trade — an argument often raised by industry in response to higher taxes, but which has been debunked by the World Health Organization.
Europe is updating its tobacco tax rules since the current rates are no longer high enough to curb smoking, the European Commission said. The update will also take into account newer nicotine products including vapes and pouches.
Health groups are struggling to have their voices heard over the stampede of responses supporting industry. Just fewer than 90 health nongovernmental organizations responded, accounting for 0.5 percent of all responses, Impact Unfiltered found.
Meanwhile, the European Union has axed grants to health groups — causing one anti-smoking nongovernmental organization to shutter its Brussels office last month. That leaves fewer voices supporting EU tax measures to curb rates of smoking and addictive nicotine use, both of which cause chronic diseases.
“When you see 7,770 people across Europe spontaneously using the exact same ‘illicit trade’ talking point, submitted anonymously during business hours, you’re not looking at organic citizen engagement — you’re looking at an organized industry playbook,” said Laurent Huber, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health.
“MEPs need to understand: This isn’t democratic input, it’s manufactured opposition,” Huber added.
Last year, the government of the United Kingdom faced a similar barrage of pro-industry responses to its bill to end legal smoking — and it said it believed the vast majority were generated by bots.
A spokesperson for industry lobby Tobacco Europe told POLITICO that while “it cannot speak on behalf of the industry, it reiterates that its members are committed to engaging transparently and publicly in decision-making processes affecting our business, including participating [in] public consultations and calls for feedback in a fair and thought through manner.”
The lobby group also suggested that the popularity of new nicotine products in France and Sweden could explain the volume of submissions there, which it said was consistent with previous consultations.
Tobacco Europe reiterated its position that higher tobacco taxes fuel illicit trade, an argument often “overlooked and misinterpreted as an interference from the industry.” The WHO, meanwhile, has said illicit trade in tobacco can be addressed even with higher taxes.
The Commission’s proposal includes raising cigarette taxes from €90 for 1,000 units to €215, while the tax on rolling tobacco would increase from €60 a kilogram to €215. Cigars would face a 1,092 percent increase, from €12 per kilogram to €143.
E-cigarettes with more than 15 milligrams of nicotine per milliliter would be taxed at €0.36 per milliliter of liquid, and those falling under that threshold would be taxed at €0.12.
Health campaigners have been raising the alarm that the tobacco and vapes industry is ramping up its lobbying of EU officials on legislation that impacts health — despite the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control encouraging parties to protect public health policies from industry interference.
According to Impact Unfiltered, this massive consultation spam is just another example of how industry is trying to get its own way.
Nonetheless, Wopke Hoekstra, the EU’s tax commissioner, is firmly in favor of hiking taxes on tobacco and vapes.
The apparent campaign comes ahead of a vote on the proposal to hike tobacco and nicotine taxes in the European Parliament’s financial services committee on Nov. 20.
