Swedish snus information

This is the place where you get more information on Swedish snus history, brands, articles and much more....

Tobacco harm reduction with snus

Tobacco is not deadly - the harm is in the smoke. A policy that confuses innocuous tobacco with harmful smoke is responsible for millions of avoidable deaths each year worldwide.

The best advice for health concerned smokers has been and remains to quit. But what about smokers who, for whatever reason, are either unwilling or unable to quit completely? Suggesting that smokers have an option other than quitting entirely is controversial, but it should not be.

Good policy toward tobacco use would reduce the grave harm of smoking by replacing cigarettes with non-smoked forms of nicotine for the addicts like snus.

These products include mini-rolls of tobacco, chewing tobacco and snus. Using pharmaceutical nicotine products would probably provide a similar reduction, but unfortunately the available nicotine patches and gums are not designed to be good long-term alternatives to tobacco.

Using modern snus products can reduce the risks of tobacco use by about 90% compared to smoking, is a expert panel saying. The expert panel has members from:

Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Calverton, Maryland

Department of Economics, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland

Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York

Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Cancer Center, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, California

Smoking and Health Action Foundation, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Why is there a sales ban in EU against snus?

The ban of snus in the European Union was with of Sweden negotiations around the European Union membership 1994 a large problem. The strong public opinion required that the right to use snus was defended and retained Sweden. It succeeded to get Sweden finally a special permission. A condition was however that Sweden had to commit itself to drive no snus out to the other member states.

A big snus producer in sweden has that view that the selling prohibition is discriminating against snus and must be waived. The prohibition is a marketing limitation on a market, which is to be marked by free stock movements.

Due to the unclear law situation in EU this question would have to be judicially examined and be submitted in this connection to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg for decision.

Smoking rate is world's lowest, but Swedes increasing their use of snus

Snus (pronounced snoos) - a Scandinavian form of moist snuff - has been banned elsewhere in the European Union for more than a decade, but its popularity has rebounded strongly in its country of origin, where one of every nine Swedes uses it. And the top snus maker, Swedish Match, now is targeting world markets with claims that its blend of tobacco, water, salt and flavoring is a safer alternative to smoking. "We don't claim that snus is a completely problem-free product," Stefan Gelkner, a Swedish Match executive, says while squeezing a pouch of prepackaged snuff under his upper lip. "But we refer to the scientific studies conducted that haven't found any link between snus and cancer." After falling out of style in the 1970s, the traditionally male, working-class habit has made a comeback, this time into all sectors of society, male and female. Meanwhile, Sweden's smoking rate has fallen below 20 percent for the Scandinavian country of 9 million people - lowest in the world. . . . As protruding upper lips replace smoke rings in Swedish bars and offices, scientists are debating the ethics of replacing cigarettes with another tobacco product - less harmful, perhaps, but just as addictive because of the nicotine it contains.

The Swedish snus experience

The prevalence of male tobacco use in Sweden is similar to that of many other European countries. However, the risk for men of dying from a tobacco-related disease is less in Sweden than in any other European country. In the scientific community this paradox has been referred to as “the Swedish Experience” and can probably be explained by the unique pattern of tobacco use in Swedish males. Swedish men smoke much less than in other countries but instead use Swedish Snus to a large extent. In fact, Snus use is as common as smoking. However, the risk for Swedish females of dying from a tobacco-related disease is in level with the risk for women in the rest of Europe. The tobacco consumption pattern of Swedish females is in line with the pattern in other parts of Europe as Swedish females never used Snus to any large extent. This comparison between males and females speaks for the fact that snus is one of the major factors involved in the staggering harm-reduction statistics for Swedish men. Facts: • In 1998, 17.1 % of adult Swedish males smoked compared with an average of 32 % for Denmark and 33.7 % for Norway. • In 1997, Swedish snus was used by 19 % of the adult male population. Swedish males are the only Europeans to extensively use Swedish snus. • The per capita consumption of tobacco products, grams per person, 15 years +, in 1998 was: Sweden - 1400, Denmark - 1612 and Norway - 1304. • More users progress from smoking to Swedish Snus than from Swedish Snus to smoking. • Sweden became the first and only country in the world to lower adult smoking prevalence below the WHO target level of 20 % before the end of year 2000. • In 1990, 11 % of all male deaths in Sweden were smoking-related compared with an average of 25 % in Europe. • In 1990, the risk of a 35 year-old male dying from smoking-related illness before the age of 70 was 4 % in Sweden compared with 10 % in Denmark and 6 % in Norway in 1990. Sweden has an average incidence of smoking-related death amongst women in Europe. The number in brackets refers to the list of references. This evident difference in tobacco related health effects in Swedish males in relation to males in the rest of Europe implies that the health risks associated with Swedish Snus differ from those known to be associated with smoking. This difference has also been confirmed in recent scientific studies. Even if the studies do not clear Swedish Snus completely from potential negative health effects the reports show a very different picture of Snus related effects than those associated with smoking. Facts: • The incidence of lung cancer amongst Swedish males has dropped in the past 20 years. Females have shown an increasing trend on lung cancer . • Two epidemiological studies recently performed in Sweden did not show any association between the use of Swedish Snus and oral cancer. • Recent epidemiological studies on gastric cancer and esophageal cancer did not find any association between Swedish Snus and an increased risk of any type of those cancers • Cancer deaths are not raised amongst Swedish smokeless tobacco (Snus) users compared to non-tobacco users . • The risk of myocardial infarction is not increased in Snus users. • No significant elevation of diastolic blood pressure, hemoglobin concentrations, white cell count, serum cholesterol or triglyceride levels has been found in Snus users. This is in contrast with findings for cigarette smokers. • Both Snus users and smokers face a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than non-users. The risk for Snus users is lower than for smokers . • The health risks associated with Snus are, with a high probability, less than the risks associated with smoking.