- Apr 2, 2009
- 5,171
- 13,288
- 67
Google Translate of 4/19/12 Swedish news article at http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article14700177.ab
Snus may be prohibited
The EU Commission wants to ban flavor additives in tobacco.
Does the proposal through, it can be ready used snuff for one million people.
- It would mean the end of Swedish snus, says MEP Christofer Fjellner.
Sweden promised an exemption from the ban on snus in the EU. But can a ban be on the road be infiltrated into the back door - by banning the essential elements of the content.
According to a consultation proposals for a new tobacco directive, which will shortly be presented by the European Commission's health directorate, is an enormous variety of flavors in tobacco ban.
"Could be the end"
All Swedish snus contains any of the subjects.
- This means the end of Swedish snus as we know it today. For us, it affects the entire portfolio - several flavors that have existed for over 200 years, says Patrik Hildingsson, communications director at Swedish Match, which produces brands such as General, Ettan, and Grov Gothenburg Rapé, accounting for 85 percent of Swedish snus market.
Hildingsson designates the proposal as "extremely serious".
- Swedes can not understand how the EU can ban snuff at all. We have major concerns that you do not understand the question. Swedish government must get involved.
Earlier röktorkades tobacco in Swedish snus. But since research in the 1980s showed that it gave high levels of carcinogenic benzoapyren, BAP, they began by air drying and compensated with additional condiments, as smoke flavoring.
Is there something you can replace the proposed aromas with?
- For us, this analysis too early to make, says Hildingsson.
Do not believe in the proposal
Christofer Fjellner, MEP, is hard to believe that the proposal would pass.
- The EU must decide. One can not both prohibit snus and decide what it should contain, he says and continues:
- I expect that we Swedish members will stand up as one to vote it down here and that the Swedish government against the vote of the Council of Ministers.
According to the National Public Health Institute snuff about one million Swedes. The industry insists that Swedish men smoke to a lesser extent than in other countries, thanks to snuff distribution.
Public Health Minister Maria Larsson (KD) has declined to comment on the proposal.
Physician Organization in favor of the ban
Associate Professor Goran Boëthius, vice president of Physicians for Smoking, says that although snus is less harmful than smoking, it is not a good argument.
- We see tobacco use as a whole. It requires a consistent battery of measures such as raising taxes, reducing exposure to tobacco in the shops and the age limit.
- Prohibition of condiments is the part of making tobacco less attractive. In Australia, Canada and California, where they worked on measures to smoke down to Swedish levels without taking snuff to help.
Snus may be prohibited
The EU Commission wants to ban flavor additives in tobacco.
Does the proposal through, it can be ready used snuff for one million people.
- It would mean the end of Swedish snus, says MEP Christofer Fjellner.
Sweden promised an exemption from the ban on snus in the EU. But can a ban be on the road be infiltrated into the back door - by banning the essential elements of the content.
According to a consultation proposals for a new tobacco directive, which will shortly be presented by the European Commission's health directorate, is an enormous variety of flavors in tobacco ban.
"Could be the end"
All Swedish snus contains any of the subjects.
- This means the end of Swedish snus as we know it today. For us, it affects the entire portfolio - several flavors that have existed for over 200 years, says Patrik Hildingsson, communications director at Swedish Match, which produces brands such as General, Ettan, and Grov Gothenburg Rapé, accounting for 85 percent of Swedish snus market.
Hildingsson designates the proposal as "extremely serious".
- Swedes can not understand how the EU can ban snuff at all. We have major concerns that you do not understand the question. Swedish government must get involved.
Earlier röktorkades tobacco in Swedish snus. But since research in the 1980s showed that it gave high levels of carcinogenic benzoapyren, BAP, they began by air drying and compensated with additional condiments, as smoke flavoring.
Is there something you can replace the proposed aromas with?
- For us, this analysis too early to make, says Hildingsson.
Do not believe in the proposal
Christofer Fjellner, MEP, is hard to believe that the proposal would pass.
- The EU must decide. One can not both prohibit snus and decide what it should contain, he says and continues:
- I expect that we Swedish members will stand up as one to vote it down here and that the Swedish government against the vote of the Council of Ministers.
According to the National Public Health Institute snuff about one million Swedes. The industry insists that Swedish men smoke to a lesser extent than in other countries, thanks to snuff distribution.
Public Health Minister Maria Larsson (KD) has declined to comment on the proposal.
Physician Organization in favor of the ban
Associate Professor Goran Boëthius, vice president of Physicians for Smoking, says that although snus is less harmful than smoking, it is not a good argument.
- We see tobacco use as a whole. It requires a consistent battery of measures such as raising taxes, reducing exposure to tobacco in the shops and the age limit.
- Prohibition of condiments is the part of making tobacco less attractive. In Australia, Canada and California, where they worked on measures to smoke down to Swedish levels without taking snuff to help.
