Snus is a tobacco product which is very popular in Sweden and Norway, and is considered to be an effective harm reduction product which has helped thousands quit smoking in these Scandinavian countries. However the product has been banned all throughout Europe with the exception of Sweden.
The high court accepted the NNA’s request, which means that the organization will be joining the case initiated by Swedish Match by intervening as a third party and submitting their own plea to the European Court of Justice, pointing out the benefits that would come about as a result of the snus ban lift.
Coincidence or not?
Earlier this week, the BBC published an article about a study that was conducted by researchers in Sweden. This research concluded that by consuming one or more pots of snus per day a user is increasing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 70%, which is the same risk level as smoking a packet of cigarettes a day.
However blogger Dick Puddlecote thinks that the BBC had an ulterior motive for publishing such an article, “Articles on the BBC about snus are about as rare as sightings of Willy Wonka factory tour golden tickets”.
Puddlecote is of the opinion that if the BBC had public health at heart, they would have also mentioned the fact that smoking cigarettes leads to a whole array of other disorders besides type 2 diabetes. Additionally he points out that 70% does not look that bad when compared to the 2600% risk level of getting lung cancer via cigarettes, as data by Cancer Research Uk suggests. On the contrary these figures would reinforce the position of snus as a reduced harm alternative.
