Surely the economic damage that would be done by an ad ban would be out of proportion to the measure?
• Following the BSE crisis in 1996 the EU initiated a range of actions on food law, food quality and hygiene, human and animal protection, which had a huge economic impact, especially on beef farmers in the UK. By September 1997, there were 21 confirmed cases and 1 probable case of Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (the human equivalent of BSE) in the EU (28). The (low) risk of CJD was regarded as worth the economic cost in order to protect consumers. Tobacco is responsible for 548,000 deaths in the EU each year. A ban on advertising is a moderate response to the EUs biggest health problem; especially, compared to all the efforts invested in combating mad cow disease.
