There were no new decisions on either smoke-free nicotine or cigarettes in the Swedish Parliament after last week's debate. Nevertheless, opinions differed widely on how the Swedish Parliament should deal with new alternatives to smoking.
"Peach flavoured nicotine pouches are not aimed at men in their 60s who smoke or snuff. For many years there have been very good smoking cessation products on the Swedish market that have helped many smokers. It is of course also true that some people use brown snus to quit smoking, but that is not how these new products are marketed," said Karin Sundin (S&D), who argued for strong restrictions on the flavours of both e-cigarettes and white snus.
"Important alternatives to cigarettes"
She was countered by Leonid Yurkovskiy (SD). He argued that Sweden's low smoking rate and relatively low smoking-related cancer rates are clearly linked to smoke-free nicotine products.
'Swedes use as much nicotine as people in other countries. But we have done something right here. We are not saying that these are cessation products. We are saying that they are important alternatives to smoking. If we want the positive trend in Sweden to continue, it is reasonable to expect that more and better alternatives will continue to be available to attract more people away from smoking."
Wants to review marketing
Leonid Yurkovskiy argued that the restrictions proposed by both the Social Democrats and the Left Party in the form of flavour bans are a dangerous way to go. Instead, he emphasised the importance of limiting the marketing of the products and a limit on the nicotine content of nicotine pouches.
"We will of course work to ensure that more people do not start using nicotine at all, and as I said, we are willing to review marketing, nicotine ceilings, age limits and so on." said Leonid Yurkovskiy.
No decisions - waiting for investigations
Of the nearly 100 motions submitted on alcohol, drugs, doping, tobacco and gambling, the Social Affairs Committee proposed rejecting all of them. This is because investigations into these issues are currently underway. This proposal was adopted by a majority, with some reservations.
