Swedish advertising laws can kill

One may ask why the Swedish snus, which is unquestionably one of the most effective quit smoking tools in the world, may not be advertised as risk minimization product to the one million people who smoke cigarettes in Sweden. Nicotine patches and nicotine gum contains nicotine just as snus and cigarettes. The proportion of smokers who successfully quit smoking for good with the help of nicotine patches and nicotine gum does not appear to be more than 2-4% (source: Temo). Nicotine is addictive, but is not what causes that 12 000 Swedes and 6-7 million people worldwide die prematurely annually to a social cost of 30 billion according to the National Board of Sweden. According to a recent WHO-report the annual cost for the world society of smoking is 1,2 trillion dollars. It is smoking that kills. Not Swedish snus and other less harmful smokeless alternatives such as e.g. vaping.

In a major scientific study, the researchers L M Ramström and J Foulds (“Role of snus in initiation and cessation of tobacco smoking in Sweden”) that the success factor to quit smoking by using snus is between 71-72% for men and women in Sweden. Sweden has the demonstrably lowest proportion of smokers in the Western world and also has the lowest mortality rate per capita in heart and lung diseases in the world. Something we can thank the Swedish snus for.

A recent (2017) International survey of respondent snus users in three continents now confirms the same thing. More than 7 out of 10 consumers are former smokers, and only 7% of the consumers both smoke cigarettes and use snus.

The survey was conducted by Bengt Wiberg, former CFO of Lidingö County, who resigned and became a snus innovator 2014. The patent-approved product and method to manufacture a snus pouch so that it does not sting or burn on the snus users sensitive gums and oral mucosa, turns firstly to those who already use snus (nearly half of all snus consumers dislike when it stings / burns) and the world's 1 billion smokers who have not yet been offered a painless snus option to quit smoking for good. The invention is called Sting Free snus and is also patent pending in Europe and the US.

The Swedish government is now examining ways to alter Sweden's Freedom of the Press Regulation to complicate matters for snus users again. Proposals have in the media resolved that the government wants to ban almost all labels on snus cans so that snus users will not be able to see if the item has a certain taste or what it contains. The government also wants that snus in the store must be kept "under the counter" and not to be visible to customers. Snus is a fresh product that today is stored in special coolers in stores.

If the government's ideas would gain support in parliament only producers of refrigerators that fit “under the counter” of tobacco stores would be the winners. By complicating things for the most Swedish consumer item of all, snus, there is a risk that more people continue to smoke or start to smoke instead. Decision-makers in parliament who would vote in favor for such proposal would then all be accomplices to the likelihood that more people die prematurely of smoke caused diseases.

In Sweden there are approximately 1.2 million snus users and one million smokers of cigarettes. Snus users thus represents over 16% of all voting age voters.