{"id":4764,"date":"2021-01-08T13:25:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T12:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/snusforumet.se\/?p=4764"},"modified":"2021-04-11T03:40:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-11T01:40:30","slug":"debate-snus-could-save-the-lives-of-swedish-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snusforumet.se\/en\/debate-snus-could-save-the-lives-of-swedish-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Debate: Snus could save the lives of Swedish women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sweden\u2019s tobacco policy is failing Swedish women by treating smoking and snus as equally harmful, the Snus Commission has argued in a hard-hitting opinion piece published in the Aftonbladet newspaper.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Snus can save the lives of Swedish women,” the Snus Commission writes, calling on Swedish politicians to take the principle of harm reduction into account when setting national tobacco policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a new research report by Dr Lars Ramstr\u00f6m<\/a> at Sweden’s Institute for Tobacco Research, while Swedish men are significantly less likely to suffer from tobacco-related deaths than the EU average, the same is not true for Swedish women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason, Ramstr\u00f6m concludes, is the higher prevalence of snus use among men.\u00a0Speaking previously with Snusforumet, he said the results should be an \u201can eye-opener for politicians and legislators”.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Ramstr\u00f6m’s findings have caught the attention of other voices active in tobacco policy debates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u201cIt’s impossible to get around the fact that while Swedish men’s tobacco consumption differs from the rest of Europe, Swedish women’s consumption patterns are more similar,\u201d the Snus Commission writes in an opinion article in the Aftonbladet newspaper<\/a> signed by commission members Anders Milton, Kinna Bellander, Karl Fagerstr\u00f6m, and G\u00f6ran Johnsson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPut plainly: Swedish men use snus while women smoke.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swedish women smoke more than men<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramstr\u00f6m found that Swedish women’s tobacco consumption is more similar to the rest of Europe\u2019s; that Swedish women smoke more than Swedish men. As a result, they are at a greater risk of suffering from lung cancer and other smoking-related illnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the opinion piece, the Snus Commission authors call on Sweden\u2019s government to adopt the principle of harm reduction in its public health work, and encourage smokers to choose the less harmful alternative, snus,\u00a0instead of carcinogenic cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Swedish public health policy calls for reducing all tobacco use, ignoring the very different risks associated with different types of products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust over half of Swedish women perceive cigarettes and snus are equally harmful to their health,\u201d the authors write, pointing to an Ipsos survey carried out for the Snus Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis misconception only exists because our public authorities have chosen not to tell the truth: you die from cigarette smoking but not from snus,\u201d they write.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article outlines three steps Sweden can take towards a tobacco policy that doesn’t let women down:<\/p>\n\n\n\n