British American Tobacco (BAT) feels its their corporate social responsibility ..

October 4, 2007 - British American Tobacco (BAT) feels its their corporate social responsibility to continue to press European regulators to lift the ban on snus, the smokeless tobacco, arguing that the use of snus helps to reduce tobacco-related harm. (It is important to note that sucking tobacco like SNUS is prohibited for import and sale in all the European Union countries and permitted only in Sweden and non-EU Scandinavian countries - Norway.)Tobacco companies have warned public health professionals if they don’t support the smokeless tobacco alternative they’ll be at fault for the suffering from chronic sickness and death of tobacco smokers. The European Commission is reviewing the EU’s tobacco legislation, but it made clear that a relaxation of the ban was unlikely. “We will be guided by the advice of our scientific committee. It has already produced its report ... and this clearly sets out the harm snus does to health,” a spokesman said. At the 1st National Conference for the British Association for Stop Smoking Practitioners (BASSP) in Manchester on September 26, 2007 with an audience of over 100 smoking cessation specialists from hospitals, primary care and management within the National Health Service from all over the UK, voted strongly against the proposal to make SNUS more available in their practice - see related news brief: October 2, 2007. SNUS is outlawed by the European Union (except Sweden) mainly because it was deemed an attraction to children, who would become easily hooked and move on to cigarettes. Imperial Tobacco Canada (a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of British American Tobacco(BAT)) announced that it will test market a reduced harm product, as compared to cigarettes, with the introduction of Swedish-style snus in Edmonton retail outlets - see related news brief:September 12, 2007. BAT accounts for about 10 per cent of sales in the Swedish snus market. BAT is the largest stockholder in Reynolds American with approximately 42% of shares. Camel SNUS now being test marketed in at least eight cities in the U.S. is manufactured in conjunction with BAT in Sweden. From snuz.biz: In about May 2005 BAT introduced two new snus products – one an extension of its Lucky Strike cigarettes and the other of its Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes--in Johannesburg, South Africa and Stockholm, Sweden. ( BAT calls for ban on ‘snus’ to be lifted, Rory Watson, The Times, 10/3/07 - part; also TobaccoWatch.org)