NEWS
DIFFERENT STROKES
FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS
– Snus, e-cigarettes and heated products –
By Dr Marina Murphy
There was a time when many thought the
‘Swedish experience’ was an anomaly
that couldn’t be repeated elsewhere.
The Swedish experience refers to the
phenomenon whereby Swedish smokers
switched en masse to a smokeless
tobacco called snus.
The result being there are now less
smokers in Sweden than anywhere else
in the EU, and Sweden boasts the lowest
levels of cancer in the developed world,
at least in men, as it is men rather than
women who took up snus.
Many in the public health community
argued that the Swedish experience
proved smokers are willing to switch when
suitable alternatives to cigarettes are
available. Critics said, no! But emerging
evidence is proving those critics wrong.
While the Swedish experience happened
over many decades, now we are seeing
accelerated rates of adoption of other
potential reduced-risk nicotine products
in other countries.
Smokers from England and Japan are
switching in their droves to e-cigarettes
and tobacco-heating-products,
respectively. “This just goes to show that
one size does not fit all,” Dr Sudhanshu
Patwardhan,
Senior
International
Engagement Manager, British American
Tobacco told delegates at the Global
Forum for Nicotine (GFN) in Warsaw,
Poland, in June. “Smokers from different
countries and different
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