European COPD Coalition
Header

World COPD Day 2012

On 14th November 2012, we commemorate World COPD Day and this year’s general theme is “it’s not too late”.

Yes, it is still time to pay a visit to your doctor to speak about this chronic cough you have had for a while and to ask your healthcare professional for a spirometry test, a simple way to measure you breathing capacity.

No further time to waste on your decision to quit smoking; get help and support by phoning your national (free) help line. You should also maintain a good level of physical activity and make sure you have healthy meals.

There is still time to get treated to alleviate your symptoms and keep you out of hospital,

ECC is saying to EU politicians today that it is not too late to take political actions and support their constituents who have COPD or who are likely to have it. And we are telling them in the newspaper they read the most, the European Voice, with the visual in this article.

If you want to join us and support the fight against COPD, please contact us.

ECC participates to Open Letter to President Barroso – Tobacco Products Directive

Following the resignation of the Health Commissioner and the designation of a new Maltese Commissioner to replace Mr Dalli, a coalition of civil society organisations wrote at the end of October 2012 to European Commission President Barroso calling for (already overdue) progress to be made on the Tobacco Products Directive and on transparency initiatives.

Since the resignation of Commissioner for Health, John Dalli, the process of releasing the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) has been put on halt.

The European Commission Directorate General for health (DG SANCO) had finished drafted the text at the end of February, the mandatory impact assessement of the piece of legislation and consultations of EU legal services are completed  according to Mr. Dalli and the inter-service consultation an essentially administrative process (other directorates general are consulted on the Directive), was about to begin on Monday 22 October. This is no longer the case.

We call for TPD to continue on its legislative process as planned, to help save lives and protect EU citizens. In this open letter, organisations are also calling for greater transparency in lobbying practice and stronger ethic rules.

Patients must be treated as healthcare professionals’ partners – Extract conference talks

Catherine Hartmann and Nicola BedlingtonThe European COPD Coalition spoke at the “New responses to non-communicable diseases – strengthening health systems, changing behaviours” conference held by The Economist Group in Geneva, Switzerland, on 29 October 2012.

Part of a panel discussion entitled “How can we incentivise and empower patients to manage their care and to adopt healthy lifestyles?”, ECC Secretary General, Catherine Hartmann underlined the import role of the patient in the management of his/her disease and advocated for his/her empowerment (being an active member of his/her disease management team), to be able to make decisions regarding his/her treatment.
(more…)

Three anti-tobacco NGOs offices burglered

ERS, the European Respiratory Society, SFP, the Smoke Free Partnership and EPHA, the European Public Health Alliance, all based in the same building were burglered during Wednesday 17 October at night. ECC shares ERS’ office but was not robbed.

ERS says:
” On the night of 17/18 October, the ERS Brussels Office was broken into and confidential data relating to the revision of the EU Tobacco Products Directive and other issues were stolen.

As a professional medical society, we take precaution to protect our data and premises. Of all offices in the eight-floor building where we are situated in Brussels, together with the Smoke Free Partnership (SFP), only one – ERS/SFP – has alarm sensors on their balcony.

While the office initially seemed carelessly ransacked, our security report shows that the break-in was in fact very methodical and calculated.

Outdoor sensors were destroyed, and the intruders managed to skilfully evade indoor sensors within the office.

ERS is an evidence based organisation and we do not subscribe to conspiracy theories. However, in light of the evidence we feel we have legitimate reason to suspect the intrusion was well-planned, researched and targeted.”

 

EU Commissioner for Health resigns under suspicion of collusion with tobacco industry

Image used by courtesy of ASHOn 16th October, EU Commissioner Dalli handed his resignation after he was informed that an the EU anti-fraud body (OLAF) investigated and found that he was aware that one of his contacts was offering his service to arrange meetings between Swedish Match and himself.

Swedish Match, a Stockholm-based firm which produces snus, a chewing tobacco sent an official complaint to the European Commission in May 2012. It protested  that a “Maltese entrepreneur” had asked it for money in return for using “his contacts” with Dalli to influence an upcoming EU ban on snus exports, in the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD).

Malta will nominate a new Commissioner to hold the post until the 2014 elections and in the interim, the Commissioner for Internal Affairs will handle Commissioner’s Dalli former portfolio.

The revised TPD is the the piece of legislation ECC and other organisations working on risk factors were awaiting to try and limit taking up smoking, help people stop smoking and reduce damages to public health in general, from tobacco. The release of TPD has been postponed for many months and is now unlikely to happen in 2013, as the European Commission indicated that the legislative process for TPD is on hold until the new Health Commissioner is in place.

Commissioner Dalli denied he resigned and that he did any wrong-doings. He also shared with the press the evidence that it was the organisation representing smoke-free tobacco, the European Smokeless Tobacco Council (ESTOC) who initiated contact with a Maltese businessman Silvio Zammit, in a bid to set up an informal meeting with former European Commissioner John Dalli.

The Smoke Free Partnership, an ECC sister oganisation issued a  press release on 16 October that denounced tactics from the tobacco industry to block, amend and delay the release of TPD.