12 November Health Council

Date: 14/11/1996

HEALTH ministers adopted a seven-page resolution aimed at coordinating actions to control diseases connected with smoking and reduce tobacco consumption. The resolution points out that tobacco contributes to the death of 500,000 people every year in the EU, and stresses that a proposal has been on the table since 1989 to ban tobacco advertising. The UK was unenthusiastic about the resolution including anything other than references to the health aspects of smoking. London, supported by the Netherlands, Germany and Greece, has blocked the tobacco advertising measures in Council.

BLOOD safety came under the spotlight, with ministers adopting a resolution inviting member states to review their methods of ensuring blood for transfusions is free from potentially fatal infections. Ministers called on the European Commission to submit proposals for a coordinated approach to blood safety as a matter of urgency. The resolution comes in the wake of scares in several member states, most notably France where, in the 'contaminated blood' scandal, some supplies were found to be infected with the HIV virus.

CREUTZFELD-Jacob disease (CJD) is not being uniformly monitored in all 15 member states, according to the latest Commission data presented to ministers. The evidence was put forward during a wide-ranging debate on the problem of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) such as CJD and its bovine equivalent mad cow disease. Ministers noted that such diseases posed a serious threat to health, but failed to adopt conclusions on a coordinated response to the problem.

THE fight against drug addiction received a boost when member states pledged 27 million ecu to tackle the problem. The money will be spent on measures to help the 15 coordinate their currently divergent approaches to drug dependency. The programme was adopted as an 'A' point, without discussion .

MINISTERS agreed on the need to develop an EU-wide approach to tackle the spread of communicable diseases. However, they postponed taking a decision on the precise details of any framework programme. This will be discussed more fully during the Dutch EU presidency which begins on 1 January 1997. Ministers also agreed to the Union's continued participation in the EU-US task force on transmissible diseases. The group aims to set up a world-wide early warning network to monitor these dangerous diseases.

ELECTRONIC health cards and other technological developments in health care were discussed. Ministers noted that introducing such a system across the Union would pose serious technical, ethical and legal problems. They asked the Commission to continue supporting research in this field.