Denmark ordered to ban snus; some believe it's a plot by tobacco companies

[Vocalek]

Denmark to enforce smokeless tobacco ban | The Copenhagen Post | The Danish News in English

The government has decided to give in to EU demands that all forms of snus, a type of chewing tobacco, be banned in Denmark. The capitulation comes following a formal notice in June from the EU Commission warning that Denmark would be hauled before the courts in violation of the EU tobacco directive prohibiting the sale of tobacco for oral use.

It is currently legal to sell loose snus in Denmark. The small pouches are banned. The EU is demanding that all smokeless tobacco products be removed from the shelves in accordance with EU rules.


Venstre, Dansk Folkeparti, Liberal Alliance and Enhedslisten all said that they would not support the government’s effort to ban snus.
“Venstre could not support such a ban, which goes too far,” spokesperson Sophie Løhde told Information newspaper. “It will lead to a black market or people simply buying snus abroad.”


Enhedslisten spokesperson Per Clausen said that using snus is less dangerous than smoking.


"This does not mean that snus is healthy, but I see this as the tobacco industry using the EU to promote its own interests,” Clausen told Information. “I can not imagine that we would vote for such a bill.”

Somehow I fail to follow the logic that tobacco companies that are steadily losing revenue from the sale of cigarettes would be pushing for laws that would make it impossible for them to recoup that lost cigarette revenue via sales of smokeless tobacco products. Duh?

[rolygate]

It is probable that most people - even in politics - don't know that pharma pulls the strings in anything to do with health.

We're talking about the industry officially and legally-recognised as the world's biggest criminal corruptors, and they are masters of the art.

[Stubby]

http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot....leaked-to.html

Total ban on all forms of smokeless tobacco across the EU (except Sweden)
Total ban on e-cigarettes
Ban on menthol and other flavourings (previously rumoured, as I reported in April)
Standardised cigarette width, length and colour
Ban on shopkeepers displaying more than one variety of each brand
Graphic warnings on packs covering 75 per cent of the surface

Is this the future of tobacco use in the EU? Could very well be as the Danish ban on loose snus is just the beginning.

It would also mean a ban on nasal snuff. Nasal snuff is at present the only form of smokeless tobacco readily available in the UK and Germany. The snus community in the EU is already in dire straights as Swedish Match is not allowing any of there snus to be sold in the EU. Even internet sales are cut off. The only snus now available to EU snus users are from V2...... which is made in Denmark.

[Luisa]

It is probable that most people - even in politics - don't know that pharma pulls the strings in anything to do with health.

We're talking about the industry officially and legally-recognised as the world's biggest criminal corruptors, and they are masters of the art.

There are very few countries in the EU that are financially stable. I could be wrong,but I thought Denmark and Germany were 2 of the stable countries. If so,if I were Denmark I would tell the EU to take care of the real problems.

[Luisa]

There are very few countries in the EU that are financially stable. I could be wrong,but I thought Denmark and Germany were 2 of the stable countries. If so,if I were Denmark I would tell the EU to take care of the real problems.

Bump Bump Bump

[rolygate]

Luisa, EU law is superior to national law, in Europe. The situation is analogous to the individual States in the USA. Europe is now in theory a federal state, with countries following EU law. Where there is a conflict between national law and EU law, the EU law is superior; if the country fails to enforce the EU version then it has to pay fines.

Regarding the financial stability of EU countries, there are a number of weak currencies/countries but the majority are stable. The EU should not be confused with the Euro, a currency unit used by some EU member states. The Euro is fundamentally flawed and has numerous significant issues, principally that there is no exit procedure for countries that have collapsed either politically or financially, leading to a devaluation situation that cannot be resolved since they are members of an external currency group.

There is a link between the Euro and the EU but it isn't relevant to discussion of EU law. EU law applies to all 27 EU member states, far fewer are in the Euro. There are many very solid countries in the EU and some are also in the Euro.

The principal issue in Europe currently is that there are about 30 countries who will do anything - no matter how unpalatable it is - to maintain and strengthen a pan-Europe bond that prevents war. In Europe there has been almost constant war for the last thousand years, and people are finally tired of it, the last one was the clincher. The only solution to that is seen as a federal state that will act against any member starting a war. This is the unspoken reason behind the EU. The problem, in practice, is that the EU 'government' is unelected and answerable to no one, and has the usual incompetence and corruption problems to be expected. Nevertheless people tend to want to keep it despite the problems.

Unless you have experienced a modern war in your own country you cannot possibly have any comprehension of this issue. Modern wars are totally destructive and the experience of the last two in Europe has convinced people that absolutely anything is better than that. The EU is the result. It has major faults but most people would probably vote to keep it, despite the fact that, the way it is going, the harm it does is growing by the year. Corruption is the main issue and looks to be incurable. As an example, the EU health committee has been bought by pharma and their EU-wide Snus ban kills somewhere between 70,000 and 140,000 EU citizens a year, by my estimation. But people are OK with that because it's better than the millions a year that would result from wars.

This is the unspoken validation behind the EU and to some extent the Euro. Without this, the EU machinery would be dissolved tomorrow - it's incredibly expensive, wasteful, incompetent and corrupt*. But it's better than wars.

*And perhaps the same sort of things have been said about the US government. The EU one is probably worse, though, as it is unelected and cannot be influenced by the public in any way.

So to put it simply: Denmark 'telling the EU to [whatever]' is about the same as Rhode Island telling the US government they are seceding, printing their own currency, putting up a border, paying no taxes, issuing RI passports, raising their own army and navy, keeping any US shipping 200 miles off their coast or sinking it, and running their own import controls with the rest of the world.

Ain't gonna happen any day soon

[MarVp]

What the?! Banning snus but allowing smoking... the EU must have rocks in their heads! Who are those clowns??

[martinc]

Such things will lead to the EU being disassembled brick by brick

[DC2]

I've come to the conclusion that corruption is a natural part of any government.
And that it has been since the beginning of time, and will be until the end of time perhaps.

At least with a free press such corruption can be exposed.
Not saying it will be, just that in theory it can be.

[DC2]

Which reminds me that there is a quote I heard a long time ago...

It says that only people that don't want to have anything to do with governing are qualified to govern.
Or maybe that the only ones qualified to govern are those that don't want to.

Something like that anyway...

Does anyone know which quote I'm talking about?