Sweden is the country in the European Union with the lowest percentage of smokers. According to the data of Eurostat relating to 2019, only 6.5 percent of its approximately 10 and a half million inhabitants regularly smoked cigarettes, compared to a European average of 18.4 (16.5 in Italy). In 2022, the percentage of regular smokers in Sweden was even lower, 5.6 percentand it is thought that in 2024 it could drop below 5.
It is a significant result, especially given that more and more countries are introducing new laws to convince people not to smoke, such as trying to ban it for the younger generation (New Zealand had tried and a similar measure is under discussion in the United Kingdom) or all open, even in our country. In Sweden the decline in smokers is partly due to targeted policies, but also partly to the spread of “snus”, a traditional type of moist powder tobacco that is consumed orally and which is banned in the rest of the European Union. As he noted Bloomberg, You can consider it partly the cause and partly the effect of the phenomenon.
Lo snus it is also called “sucking tobacco” because it is not consumed by smoking it, like cigarettes, but rather by placing it between the lips and gums, where it is kept for a few minutes or longer, depending on preferences. To do this, we start with dried tobacco leaves, from which we obtain a powder that is steam pasteurized; then flavorings and other substances are added to ensure that the powder is preserved for longer and to reduce the risk of bacterial proliferation. Traditionalists use the wet powder directly, but today snus is mostly found pre-packaged, in small bags similar to tea bags.
This type of tobacco does not need to be chewed, when you want just remove the sachet from your mouth and throw it away. Through contact with the mucous membranes of the mouth, snus releases nicotine and other substances which are absorbed by the body causing a slight burning sensation. It has an immediate effect similar to that of a cigarette, more pronounced in some people and less in others. It is also somewhat addictive, like other tobacco products. In short, it is a sort of Swedish alternative to cigarettes, and not a product specifically designed to stop smoking.
In Sweden, snus has been widespread since the eighteenth century. Its consumption decreased between the 1950s and 1960s, with the great popularity of cigarettes, but resumed in the second half of the century, with growing awareness of the health risks of cigarettes. This is also why when Sweden entered the European Union in 1995, it managed to obtain a particular exemption: the permission to continue selling and using snus, which continues to be banned in the rest of the Union.
A pack of snus in sachets (Lisa Risager, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
Today, according to the Swedish Health Agency, 14 percent of the population regularly uses snus, the consumption of which has increased in inverse proportion to that of cigarettes. In 2004, about 14 percent of Swedish men and 19 percent of Swedish women smoked cigarettes, he says. Bloomberg, while in 2022 the percentages have reduced by approximately two thirds. Again according to the Agency’s investigations, in 2018, 4 percent of women between the ages of 16 and 29 said they regularly consumed snus. In 2022 the percentage has risen to 18 percent.
Swedish health authorities maintain that the decrease in smoking is linked to measures such as the increase in excise duties on the sale of cigarettes and the ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and most public spaces. Some, however, argue that it depends precisely on the habit of using snus, which in addition to being an alternative to traditional tobacco also costs less: a pack of 20 sachets costs around 40 Swedish crowns, 3.50 euros, while a pack of cigarettes costs around 70, more than 6 euros.
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MP Jesper Skalberg Karlsson, who sits on Sweden’s Health and Welfare Committee, says snus makes a significant contribution to the country’s fight against smoking. Some studies also confirm this, including a 2016 analysis which noted that 71 percent of ex-smokers who had started using snus had then stopped smoking completely. As Ulrika Årehed Kågström, the general secretary of the Swedish Cancer Society, noted, this is also the thesis supported by tobacco companies, which exploit this data to be able to expand into new markets with snus and other alternative products to cigarettes.
According to Rosaria Galanti, professor of the Department of Public Health at the Karolinska Institute in Solna, much of the credit should instead be given to the fact that Sweden has “built a negative regulatory culture around smoking”, making it a cultural taboo. Former president of the World Medical Association Anders Milton, now head of the Swedish Snus Commission, clarifies that snus “is not a health product.” At the same time “it does not cause cancer”, says Milton, even if the issue is still much debated with studies that have not detected particular increases among users compared to the general population and others that have reported a significant increase.
Despite rising costs and restrictions on cigarette consumption, it is estimated that there are over 1 billion cigarette smokers globally. People who smoke are not addicted to tobacco itself, but rather to nicotine, which is difficult to quit due to the addictive effect it creates. On the other hand, the usefulness of products such as electronic cigarettes for quitting smoking has been debated for some time, with scientific studies often reaching conflicting conclusions.
Since there is no type of combustion, snus consumption is generally considered less risky for the lungs. Overall, however, there are still doubts about its health effects, given the exposure it causes to significant quantities of nicotine. In addition to an aesthetic problem, because tobacco pigments can yellow the teeth, some research has reported a greater risk of developing forms of oral and pancreatic cancer if snus is consumed instead of normal cigarettes, while other studies have reduced these risks.
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In all countries of the European Union, snus has been banned since 1992 on the basis of the results of a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the second half of the 1980s, with the exception of Sweden (it is also found in Norway, which however is not part of the EU). This is why importing and selling snus is also prohibited in Italy and, as required by the legislative decree 6 of 2016, each violation can result in an administrative fine ranging from 30 thousand to 150 thousand euros. In October 2022, for example, the Customs and Monopolies Agency of the Milan 3 Office seized 27 shipments containing a total of 335 packs of snus from Israel, fining the people who ordered them.
In recent years, the WHO has invited the scientific community to carry out more in-depth investigations into the consumption of snus. At the same time the European authorities have discussed on various occasions the possibility of eliminating the ban, with the aim of making an alternative accessible that limits the consumption of traditional cigarettes.
Meanwhile, in 2019 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the government agency that regulates the regulations regarding food and pharmaceutical products in the United States, authorized the marketing of eight varieties of snus from the Swedish brand Match indicated as less dangerous than cigarettes.
In a statement, the FDA he wrote that «available scientific evidence, including long-term epidemiological studies, shows that exclusive use of these specific smokeless tobacco products carries lower risks of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema and bronchitis chronic compared to cigarette smoking”. The FDA, however, clarified that all tobacco products are potentially harmful, and that this authorization “does not mean that they are safe or FDA-approved.”