Smoke Free Sweden: Danish Pouch Restrictions Will Drive 150,000 Back to Smoking
2024年10月7日 - 12:00AM
ビジネスワイヤ(英語)
Proposed restrictions on flavours, nicotine content and
increased taxation of oral nicotine pouches may lead to a de facto
ban on nine out 10 nicotine pouches currently sold in Denmark. This
will represent a massive reversal in the war against tobacco and
will drive tens of thousands of ex-smokers back to deadly
cigarettes, leading international experts warn today.
Health reform regulations, to be presented to the Danish
parliament on Friday (11 October), would restrict flavours and the
nicotine content in a pouch to 9mg, far below international
standards – and a fraction of the nicotine level in combustible
cigarettes.
Dr. Delon Human, a global harm reduction expert and leader of
Smoke Free Sweden, says: “Oral nicotine pouches are proven to be a
far safer alternative to cigarettes and are helping millions of
smokers to quit all over the world. Alongside pharmaceutical-grade
nicotine replacement therapy, oral nicotine pouches are the safest
form of nicotine use, with a significant evidence base to prove
that.
“The proposal before Danish MPs will outlaw 90% of the pouches
currently used in Denmark, leaving smokers to choose between the
pouches that remain or cigarettes that contain 85% more
nicotine.
“It’s not hard to predict which option they’ll end up choosing.
Smokers considering quitting will be denied a viable safer
alternative, while most of the 170,000 existing pouch users will be
driven back to cigarettes, or to find acceptable alternatives on
the unregulated, illicit market.
“Making the most dangerous way of consuming nicotine the most
attractive is simply illogical and a massive reversal in the
ongoing war against the deadly toll of smoking.”
Denmark’s neighbour Sweden has demonstrated that a progressive
approach to tobacco harm reduction (THR) products is the best way
to eradicate smoking and its associated diseases.
Sweden has seen an extraordinary 55% decline in smoking rates
over the past decade and is on the brink of being officially
declared as smoke-free. Compared to the rest of the European Union,
it now has 44% fewer tobacco-related deaths and a 41% lower cancer
rate.
Sweden’s success is attributed to the widespread use of oral
nicotine products at different nicotine strengths and flavours, as
well as the government putting higher taxes on cigarettes than oral
nicotine products.
Denmark’s health reform proposals seek to outlaw the ‘king-size’
cigarettes currently used by a third of smokers, at the same time
as capping pouch nicotine levels.
“Banning 30% of cigarettes on the market should be a major
opportunity to encourage smokers to switch to safer alternatives
like pouches,” Dr. Human says. “Instead, the proposals seek to make
pouches ineffective and less appealing than cigarettes.
“Like Sweden, the Danish government should recognise the
important role that these reduced-risk products play in helping
smokers to transition away from combustible tobacco and make safer
alternatives accessible, acceptable and affordable.”
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Smoke Free Sweden Jessica Perkins info@smokefreesweden.org
www.smokefreesweden.org