An article written by Dr. Sanjit Bagchi in the September issue of Health Care News

August 29, 2007 - An article written by Dr. Sanjit Bagchi in the September issue of Health Care News summarizes a study that appeared in the June 16, 2007 issue of The Lancet ("Assessment of Swedish snus for tobacco harm reduction: an epidemiological modelling study," by Carol E. Gartner et al.). Gartner and colleagues found snus could produce a net benefit to health at the population level if it is adopted in sufficient numbers by inveterate smokers. It was concluded that relaxing current restrictions on the sale of snus is more likely to produce a net benefit than harm, with the size of the benefit dependent on how many inveterate smokers switch to snus. Please note the subjects were hard-nosed, firmly and long established, deep-rooted cigarette smokers that refuse to consider trying to quit smoking tobacco. For this population SNUS may help but it is impossible to limit distribution to this relatively small number of smokers. Over 70% of smokers have expressed the desire to quit using tobacco products. But tobacco companies have an entirely different goal in mind - targeting a much younger crowd of young adults and any kids they can entice along the way - witness the tagline for Camel SNUS: "Pleasure for wherever." We’re afraid this generation of youngsters will not be able to reach their full potential – their crutch will always be nicotine addiction. Kids are well aware of what is happening.. they’ve been told over and over again how bad tobacco smoking can be - it kills. Now – you have public health officials telling people how safe this alternative is and you can still get the same amounts of nicotine (perhaps even more) and much lesser chance of developing a disease. Please see http://snus.biz for many more examples. (TobaccoWatch.org)