Sweden, which represents the world’s best example of the population effect of tobacco harm reduction, is considering increasing its snus tax by 22%, according to the Swedish national newspaper Aftonbladet. An April 2 article claims “it would be the first time ever that a can of snus would cost more than a pack of cigarettes.” Swedes are reportedly outraged by the proposal. Public health experts should be outraged as well, given such a tax hike’s threat to the developed world’s lowest smoking and lung cancer rates.
As expected, the Karolinska Institute’s tobacco expert Hans
Giljam expressed support for a higher snus tax.
However, even he admitted, “There is a risk that many will quit snus and
move to cigarettes. And if many start
smoking instead of using snus, we will get sicker. That is a certainty.”
That is unquestionably the strangest endorsement of tobacco
harm reduction ever heard. Giljam couched
his comment in dire, unfounded or exaggerated warnings about links between snus
and a host of diseases, but he waffled on how much snus use triggers health
effects. “It takes decades of study to
reach such conclusions. It is one of the
pedagogic problems we face; we don’t really know what the health effects of
long-term snus usage are.”
In fact, decades of study have defined the long-term health
effects snus use – nearly zero. And even
Giljam acknowledges that smoking is at least ten times more dangerous than
using snus. His support for equalizing
taxes on snus and cigarettes is unfathomable.
This article is available only in Swedish (here), so the English translation I have could
account for Giljam’s bizarre logic. But
I sincerely doubt it. Like anti-tobacco
extremists everywhere, those in Sweden not only completely ignore the
phenomenal Swedish tobacco experience, they enthusiastically endorse policies
that would destroy it.
No comments:
Post a Comment