Swedish tobacco not safe alternative to smoking
Posted June 24, 2011 9:07 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It’s supposedly more hygenic than chewing tobacco and less harmful than smoking cigarettes but Snus, the smokeless tobacco from Sweden, is no joke. BC’s top doctor claims you are kidding yourself if you think it’s nothing more than kind of a cool trend.
Proponents have been quick to credit Snus with reduced smoking rates in Sweden but BC’s provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall says we have achieved similar levels, without it.
“So why would we introduce another addictive product that has a cancer risk when we have addictive products without the cancer risk available through pharmacists? I can’t understand that argument.”
Snus, in its cute little teabag, is still an oral form of tobacco with cancer-causing carcinogens associated with nicotine addiction says Kendall, “if you’re looking for nicotine alternatives, there are safer alternatives.”
Kendall says if you are a non-smoker, not hooked on nicotine, it seems foolish to become addicted by sucking tobacco.
