ESTOC welcomes constructive dialogue with the EU, governments, public health bodies and all other interest groups in seeking to present the scientific evidence for, and potential health benefits of, lifting the EU ban on Swedish snus.
"Some smokeless tobacco products…may offer substantial reductions in harm compared to smoking…Regulators cannot afford to ignore such developments – which are both public health threats and opportunities".
(´Protecting smokers, saving lives´, Tobacco Advisory Group to the Royal College of Physicians, 2002)
"As a way of using nicotine, the consumption of non-combustible tobacco is of the order of 10–1,000 times less hazardous than smoking, depending on the product. Some manufacturers want to market smokeless tobacco as a ´harm reduction´ option for nicotine users, and they may find support for that in the public health community.
This raises many questions. Should the ban on oral tobacco (EU Directive 2001/37/EC article 8) be lifted and what kind of regulatory regime should replace it?"…
(´Protecting smokers, saving lives´, Tobacco Advisory Group to the Royal College of Physicians, 2002)
"ASH believes that there is no logic to the banning of snus, when cigarettes, which are far more deadly, are on general sale, but that snus should not simply be de-regulated…"
(ASH UK media briefing, June 2004)
"There are studies that show positive health effects where people have started to use smokeless tobacco instead of smoking, and there are numerous studies that clearly show that smoking causes considerably more damage to health than Swedish snus does."
(Thomas Östros, Swedish Minister for Industry and Trade, May 2005)
"That this House welcomes the remarkable reduction of cancer deaths in Sweden following the drop in smoking by Swedish males… notes that smokeless tobacco is used as an aid by a third of Swedes who quit smoking…is persuaded by the Royal College of Physicians´ view that smokeless tobacco can be up to 1,000 times less hazardous than smoking tobacco; and believes that the UK ban on the use of Snus moist snuff should be removed..."
(Paul Flynn MP, UK Parliamentary Early Day Motion (EDM), June 2005)
