Switzerland among worst in Europe for tackling smoking
Switzerland performs poorly in the European ranking for tobacco control.
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening:
Switzerland among worst in Europe for tackling smoking
+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
It ranks second from last out of 37 countries assessed, according to the Swiss Association for Tobacco Prevention (AT), which published the findings on Wednesday.
+ “The passive smoking laws are killing me”
In the index, Switzerland is grouped with countries in Eastern Europe, as well as Italy and the Balkans. Only Bosnia and Herzegovina scores worse. Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands top the list.
Among Switzerland’s neighbours, France (4th) is among the best performers, while Austria (22nd) and Germany (25th) rank closer to Switzerland, which ranks 36th.
More
Could Switzerland follow the UK and ban disposable vapes?
The report points to major gaps in areas such as advertising bans, protection against tobacco industry influence, the regulation of new nicotine products and prevention efforts. It also notes that Switzerland is the only country assessed that has yet to ratify the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Shortcomings in Swiss legislation
Despite recent changes, Switzerland is still adopting “laws with significant shortcomings” and exemptions that favour the tobacco industry, the report says.
More
Swiss back further restrictions on tobacco advertising
AT has described the ranking as a “major political wake-up call”. It is calling for “stronger” measures, including a full ban on advertising, tighter regulation of new nicotine products, a significant rise in tobacco prices, a major boost to prevention efforts, and the immediate ratification of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Translated from French by AI/sp
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch
External Content
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.