NEWS
SNUS – DECADES OF RESEARCH INDICATE THAT
SNUS IS SUBSTANTIALLY SAFER THAN SMOKING
- SO SHOULD IT STILL BE BANNED IN THE EU?
By Marina Murphy, BAT
POTENTIAL TO SAVE
EUROPEAN LIVES?
These days, governments always seem to
be under the cosh, so it is pretty amazing
that when there is an opportunity to take
credit for something extraordinary that
they don’t do it. Or at least, the Swedish
government seems very reluctant to
‘get behind snus’ as Clive Bates, a well-
known harm reduction advocate puts
it. He recently wrote to the Swedish
government questioning their reluctance
to not only take credit for what, he says,
by any standards, is ‘an extraordinary
public health achievement’, but on their
reluctance to do anything about ensuring
that the rest of the EU might benefit.
You may remember in the last issue, I
wrote about a case being brought to the
European Court of Justice by the New
Nicotine Alliance (NNA), and the Swedish
Match legal challenge of the current EU
ban on snus (except in Sweden). Well I
think it’s worth revisiting this issue, given
24 ISSUE 12 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE
that new results released in June reveal
that around 320,000 men would not die
prematurely every year in the EU if snus
was [widely and lawfully] available, and
use levels mirrored those in Sweden. Now
it is highly unlikely that use levels in other
European countries wo