A group under the auspices of the Danish Cancer Society completed a study of the available literature on the additives in tobacco products. The group investigated 249 compounds which Danish tobacco companies have reported using. The literature studied was drawn from scientific databases and from the open archives of the tobacco industry itself.

The study confirms the use of compounds which increase addiction, compounds which make smoking easier for beginning smokers as well as compounds which are directly damaging to health or which increase the damaging effects of smoke.

The comprehensive report on the study is being used by the Danish Ministry for Health and Prevention and has become an important document in the EU’s policing of additives. The report is in Danish and comprises 425 pages. The attached document is an abbreviated version in English.

On 7 February 2008 the WHO released new data showing that, while progress has been made, not one single country fully implements all key tobacco control measures and outlined an approach that governments can adopt to prevent tens of millions of premature deaths by the middle of this century. This new report which presents the first comprehensive analysis of global tobacco use and control efforts, states that only 5% of the world’s population live in countries that fully protect their population with any one of the key measures that reduce smoking rates. It also reveals that governments around the world collect 500 times more money in tobacco taxes each year than they spend on anti-tobacco efforts. It finds that tobacco taxes, the single most effective strategy, could be significantly increased in nearly all countries, providing a source of sustainable funding to implement and enforce the recommended approach, which is a package of six policies called MPOWER. The six MPOWER strategies are: monitor tobacco use and prevention policies; protect people from tobacco smoke; offer help to quit tobacco use; warn about the dangers of tobacco; enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; raise taxes on tobacco.

Scientific evidence has firmly established that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS), a pollutant that causes serious illnesses in adults and children. There is also indisputable evidence that implementing 100% smoke-free environments is the only effective way to protect the population from the harmful effects of exposure to SHS. In light of the above experience, the World Health Organization (WHO) makes these recommendations to protect workers and the public from exposure to SHS.

This Eurobarometer report entitled "Attitudes of Europeans towards tobacco" was commissioned by DG SANCO.