STOCKHOLM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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.”
