DOCTORS: SWEDISH SNUS CUT RISK OF CANCER
Smokers looking for a less harmful way to get their nicotine fix
should switch to Swedish snus - a smokeless tobacco that puts
them at a significantly lower risk of cancer than cigarettes,
doctors say in an article posted online Thursday in The Lancet.
Smokers are at least 10 times more likely to get lung cancer
than people who use snus, studies showed - a finding that could
challenge bans on snus, particularly in the European Union.
All EU nations now prohibit snus, except for Sweden, which was
granted an exemption because of the widespread use of the powder
tobacco among Swedes. In the United States, smokeless tobacco is
legal, and Swedish snus is being test-marketed in at least two
U.S. cities.
"We should not delay in allowing snus to compete with cigarettes
for market share," Dr. Jonathan Foulds of the University of
Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Dr. Lynn Kozlowski of
the University of Buffalo said in analyzing two studies
published in The Lancet.
"The banning or exaggerated opposition to snus in cigarette-rife
environments is not sound public health policy," they wrote.
