Ban all non-tobacco flavours in e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches. And hide all tobacco products in shops. This is what the Left Party is proposing ahead of the upcoming debate on alcohol, tobacco and drugs in Parliament.
"In order for electronic cigarettes to provide an alternative for users of smoking tobacco, the sale of tobacco-flavoured liquid should continue to be allowed. However, the use of flavouring additives that make electronic cigarettes attractive to children, young people and non-smokers should not be allowed."
According to several members of parliament from The Left Party in a motion to the Parliament.
Flavour ban for nicotine pouches
The Left Party refers to a proposal put forward by the Social Democratic government in spring 2021, where the majority of all flavours in e-liquids would be banned. The Left Party supported the proposal together with the Green Party - but a majority in parliament voted against it. The previous proposal only dealt with flavourings in e-cigarettes and e-liquid. Now the party wants to go even further. So-called white snus should not be allowed to taste anything other than tobacco.
"The Left Party believes that it should be investigated whether even tobacco-free snus should not be made available to consumers on the market if it contains additives that lead to a clearly perceptible smell or taste of something other than tobacco, similar to the previous proposal regarding the liquids in electronic cigarettes." write several members of the (v) in a motion.
Rotting hay in the bag
Tobacco flavours in tobacco-free products have long been a contentious issue among politicians and industry professionals alike. Even countries that actively ban vejp products "with a taste and smell other than tobacco" have not clearly defined what a tobacco flavour actually is. The exception is the Netherlands which allows only 12 different flavour ingredients in the e-liquid. These ingredients, according to a government-commissioned study, should only contain substances that are bitter and harsh, taste like earth or fermented hay and contain some form of smoke essence (similar to the artificial flavours found in spice mixes and bacon, among other things).
Want to hide tobacco
In addition to a flavour ban, the Left Party also proposes a ban on the display of tobacco products in shops. This is to prevent minors from becoming curious about the products. But the proposal also refers to adults.
"Visible tobacco products are also a problem for adult smokers and ex-smokers. For people trying to quit smoking, cigarette packs can be an irresistible attraction. The exposure risks leading to impulse purchases for customers. Concealed sales of tobacco would thus contribute to reducing the recruitment of new tobacco users." Writes the Left Party.
Tobacco policy and a future strategy on alcohol, drugs, tobacco, doping and gambling will be debated in the Swedish Parliament. Parliament on 21 March 2024.
So utterly stupid... there is an 18 year limit on it and we are adults enough to be able to decide for ourselves what we want to put in us? Now the government and the EU must focus on the important issues instead with all the shootings, gang crime, the heavy drugs, etc.
Don't they have more important problems to deal with than snus and e-cigs? Is not democracy for people to decide for themselves what they want to eat, snuff or smoke. Soon they may ban e.g. sugar, it is also not good for the body:-)
Adults should not be banned just because democracy is self-determination.
The redneck left is doing it again. Smoking deadly cigarettes causes about 8 million premature deaths annually according to the WHO. Snus, white snus and ecigs have never killed anyone in the history of the world.
Nicotine, in itself, does not cause cancer or any other serious disease. Anyone who does not believe me can Google the question and get the same answer from the American FDA, cancer organisations and published scientific data. So why do (v) and (mp) want to chase snus users and vejp users? These parties must be the most boring parties in Sweden, soon they will want to snatch the coffee cup from the hands of the citizens too, but then they will have lost their very last vote in this country.
I remember November 2022 when it was rumoured that the EU Commission would ban white snus. Nooshi Dadgostar quickly joined in the defence of snus with a snuff box on her desk on her Twitter account. When Annie Lööf complained that Nooshi smelled of smoke in the parliamentary lift, she admitted that she was vejping. Was she possibly vaping with tobacco flavour?
That's fine Nooshi, vejpake any flavour you want but don't tell the other 1.5 million ex-smokers who have quit for good using these much less harmful products!
Bengt Wiberg - Founder of EUforsnus with members from 100 countries and inventor of Stingfreesnus.se, a Swedish patented innovation that includes gum protection for snus users.
I don't care if people smoke, snuff, vejpar or whatever they do, but to say that nicotine is not harmful is a lie. It IS harmful and that is something you have to accept and stand for if you want to use it. Nicotine is a neurotoxin that affects all sorts of parts of the body such as the brain, heart, reproductive system, lungs, etc.
A list of things nicotine actually does to the body:
- Provides an adrenaline rush, which leads to increased blood pressure
- Causes blood vessels to constrict
- Causes hardening of the arterial cell walls (leads to impaired heart function and increased risk of heart attack)
- Activates the sympathetic nervous system - can lead to increased feelings of anxiety and even panic attacks (the sympathetic nervous system manages the body's fight or flight so its activation in a threatening situation is not positive).
- Causes the brain to secrete dopamine - leads to the brain's natural dopamine release being destroyed as it learns to rely on nicotine instead, plus a tolerance builds up which means you need more and more dopamine (and therefore nicotine) to feel something.
Reply to Anders Hansson:
Thank you for commenting! It is important that all sides are heard in a debate.
Nor does anyone say that nicotine does not affect the body, or that there are no risks associated with nicotine itself. However, there are very different opinions on how great the risks really are when the use takes place without any combustion being involved (SMOKING is really dangerous, whether nicotine is part of it or not). The examples you give present the risks of nicotine without in any way quantifying them. This is a poor starting point for a discussion.
So why is it important? Well, because if we make a comparison: exactly the same description can be made for another very common drug (which is also a poison) and is used daily in various forms by billions of people.
It is about caffeine.
Compared to each other (without quantifying anything):
Caffeine boosts adrenaline, constricts blood vessels, stiffens blood vessels (a symptom of calcification, not necessarily chronic though), activates the sympathetic nervous system (anxiety, panic, etc.), causes the brain to release dopamine, builds tolerance and leads to addiction. And so on.
In other words, there are a lot of risks associated with using caffeine. If you don't believe me, there are some good studies to read below 😉.
I am not saying that caffeine use and nicotine use are the same thing. However, it can be good to have some perspective when discussing addictions and their risks. Think the world will be a little better then 🙂
etc.
Stefan Mathisson
responsible publisher
Road studs
Some interesting studies on caffeine:
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/01.hyp.38.2.227#:~:text=Caffeine%20acutely%20increases%20blood%20pressure,artery%20properties%20are%20largely%20unknown
https://www.health.com/condition/anxiety/how-coffee-increases-anxiety#:~:text=More%20than%20400%20milligrams%20of,the%20U.S.%20Food%20%26%20Drug%20Administration
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/01.hyp.38.2.227#:~:text=Caffeine%20acutely%20increases%20blood%20pressure,artery%20properties%20are%20largely%20unknown.
I find it very unlikely that Nooshi's vape would smell like tobacco.
I have vejpat lots of different "tobacco flavours" and not a single one smells like tobacco, not even my friends or colleagues think it smells like tobacco, but more like something vanilla-like... There is also no vejp that tastes like tobacco... If it tasted like tobacco, I would have stopped immediately because I hate the taste and smell of tobacco now after 12 years of vaping.
No, I think it's a free-for-all for all tastes and strengths. It is nonsense with all these laws for us.