EU TPD ignores Sweden’s successful strategy that led to a smoke-free nation
Instead of acknowledging the benefits of safer alternatives, the TPD report refers to the products as an inconvenience to regulate, as the market for tobacco and nicotine products is “more diversified and challenging to regulate.”
A chart published in May 2017 by the EU as part of a study looking at smoking behavior across the Union had listed Bulgaria, Greece and France as the EU countries with the highest smoking rates. While at the bottom of this list were the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom, all with 16%, and finally Sweden, with an impressive 5%, a percentage that is globally considered to be equated with smoke-free.
Sweden is known for having reached this status thanks to adopting a harm reduction strategy in favor of a prohibitive attitude. This was done by approving the use of snus for smoking cessation. Snus is a moist powdered tobacco product that is placed under the upper lip for longer periods.
Throughout the EU, this product is only legal in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, and it is considered an effective harm reduction product, as studies have shown that it is significantly safer than cigarettes. In fact, snus has not only led to Sweden having the lowest smoking rates in Europe, but more importantly also to reporting the lowest rates of lung cancer across the continent.
The application report for TPD 2021
Despite all this positive information, TPD Application report 2021, published by the European Commission earlier this year, identifies new tobacco products as snus as “specific regulatory challenges”.
Instead of acknowledging the benefits of such products, the report refers to them as an inconvenience to regulate, saying that the market for tobacco and nicotine products is “more diverse and challenging to regulate”, as the new product categories “circumvent existing regulations” and can not handled entirely by the current TPD rules.
TPD aims to standardize its rules with WHO
Health warnings, the presence of flavors and the use of devices are some of the issues identified in the Commission’s report as “legal loopholes” used by these new products. The Commission also said it plans to amend the TPD to fully capture new products such as nicotine bags and heated tobacco products (HTP).
– It is unfortunate that the EU continues to have a hostile rather than constructive attitude towards snus and innovative nicotine products that are less harmful than cigarettes, says Patrik Strömer, Secretary General of the Swedish Snus Manufacturers’ Association.
Among other things, to the alarm of many, TPD strives to standardize its rules with those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
Read on: Snusforumet
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