Reduce the nicotine content of white snus to 4 milligrams per gram.
This is what the County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland is proposing in its consultation response to the report "Safe childhood without nicotine, alcohol and nitrous oxide". At the same time, it wants to ban nicotine use by pupils in primary and secondary schools during school hours and force schools to display signs and actively enforce the ban.
As previously reported by Vejpkollen, the responses to the report "A safe childhood without nicotine, alcohol and nitrous oxide" are starting to arrive at the Ministry of Social Affairs. The report was commissioned by the previous government after the proposed ANDTS strategy was voted down by the Riksdag.
The investigation was finalised at the beginning of the year and proposals included new legislation making it illegal to sell nicotine products to minors and banning shops from stocking unregistered nicotine products. But there was also a new law banning the use of nicotine during school hours for primary and secondary school pupils and limiting the nicotine content of both traditional snus and the white snus, nicotine pouches to 12 mg per gram.
Same as in nicotine medicines
But Region Västra Götaland wants to go even further. In its consultation response to the government and the Ministry of Social Affairs propose a limit of 4 mg per gram for nicotine pouches. At the same time, it wants to keep the original proposal for 12 mg in tobacco snus.
"Among children and young people, tobacco-free snus is more popular than tobacco snus, and the County Administrative Board therefore believes that the Government should consider setting a lower limit for the nicotine content of tobacco-free nicotine products. The County Administrative Board believes that the limit of 4 milligrams per gram is appropriate for tobacco-free nicotine snus. "
The proposed nicotine content is at the same level as in the pharmaceutical-grade sachets sold to a lesser extent in pharmacies today - a nicotine content similar to nicotine gum and tablets.
No regulation at all today
There is currently no upper limit for the nicotine content of either snus or non-medicated nicotine pouches. In the past, one of the Sweden's largest retailer of snus and nicotine pouches warned that limiting the nicotine content to 12 mg per gram would halve the range of products available in shops, if it materialises. According to Markus Lindblad, Head of Communications at Snusbolaget, too low a nicotine strength will greatly reduce the chances of smokers quitting using the products.
"Need to be more thoughtful"
"It is important that smokers can find a snus variant that suits them. Restricting the nicotine strength of products that actually help them to quit smoking is really not good. We saw this when the nicotine strength of e-liquid cigarettes was restricted in the EU, where the nicotine strengths are high enough to addict young people but not high enough to attract all smokers to less harmful alternatives. We need to think about this more carefully," Markus Lindblad told Vejpkollen when the report was presented in early 2024.
Follow developments in Vejpkollen
Vejpkollen continuously follows the consultation responses received by the Ministry of Social Affairs regarding the investigation "A safe childhood without nicotine, alcohol and nitrous oxide". The consultation period ends on 30 August 2024.
