Tobacco.org

• No butts or ifs for cigarettes at Ica 

The Umeå branch of supermarket chain Ica in northern Sweden is clearing its shelves of cigarettes.

As of June 1st, Ica in Umeå will be the first grocery store in Sweden to throw out all tobacco products apart from snus, the chewing tobacco popular in Sweden, E24 reports.

Manager Mats Calla felt that the supermarket’s support of local sports and healthy living was at odds with sales of cigarettes.

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• Swedish Match checking tobacco-free snus complaints 

Tobacco products firm Swedish Match said on Tuesday it was investigating whether its tobacco- and nicotine-free snus product could cause cavities after dentists contacted the firm.

Swedish Match's biggest and most profitable product, snus, is a wet tobacco snuff that is placed under the upper lip. In 2006 the firm launched tobacco-free snus in Sweden, the world's biggest snuff market per capita.

Freddi Lewin, health advisor at Swedish Match, said the company had been contacted by two dentists in the past month saying patients using the product had developed cavities, and also by consumers with similar concerns.

The firm said it was taking the information seriously and had initiated an analysis of the production and the ingredients of the product, Onico, which is based on corn fibre.

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Nordic scientists start trial on nicotine vaccine 

Nordic scientists have launched a trial on a vaccine designed to help smokers kick the world's deadliest habit by depriving them of one of its chief pleasures, the firm that owns the vaccine said on Tuesday.

Independent Pharmaceutica, a private company based at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute and founded in 1997 by Professor Torgny Svensson, joins a growing line-up of biotech companies seeking to develop an anti-nicotine shot.

Its researchers say the vaccine eliminates the quick high smokers relish by creating antibodies that bind to nicotine molecules, making them too bulky to enter the brain.

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Anti-Smoking Vaccine To Be Tested In Nordic Countries  

Around 400 people in Nordic countries will get the first shots-literally-of an anti-nicotine vaccine developed by Swedish researchers at the Karolinska Institute. The test run of the vaccine will be conducted over the next year.

According to Lena Wikingsson, head of Independent Pharmaceutica, which is running the experiment, people taking part in the study - heavy smokers who would like to quit - would undergo counselling prior to the treatment. Participants will receive one injection every month for four months.

The anti-smoking vaccine, called Niccine, was developed over a period of 10 years at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden by researchers led by professor Torgny Svensson, who founded Independent Pharmaceutica.

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Swedish multinationals pamper employees to keep them at work  

High-tech gyms, free breakfasts, and programmes to help people lose weight or stop smoking: modern Swedish companies pamper their employees in a bid to combat one of Europe's highest absenteeism rates.

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• Swedish anti-nicotine vaccine to be tested in Nordic countries 

An anti-nicotine vaccine will be tested on 400 people in the Nordic countries over the next year aimed at helping smokers kick the habit, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden said on Monday.

"A Swedish vaccine against nicotine will be tested on 400 people in three Nordic countries," the institute said in a statement.

Lena Wikingsson, head of Independent Pharmaceutica, which is running the experiment, told Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet that people taking part in the study -- heavy smokers who would like to quit -- would be given counselling before they stop smoking and would be given a drug to help them quit. . . .

The vaccine, called Niccine, has been developed over the course of 10 years by Swedish researchers at the Karolinska Institute, under the guidance of professor Torgny Svensson who founded Independent Pharmaceutica.

Niccine is supposed to help the immune system build antibodies against nicotine.

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Non-smokers could get extra holiday 

Marie-Louise Ekholm, a member of the Moderate party and local councillor in Nässjö in southern Sweden, wants non-smoking council employees to be rewarded, reports Dagens Nyheter.

Ekholm, who is a doctor by profession, argues that a healthier life is insufficient reward for stubbing out the cigarettes for good and has submitted a formal proposal to the local council.

Non-smokers get sick less, take fewer breaks and are less of a burden on society it is argued and should therefore get an extra day's holiday.

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• SIMPSON: The new smoking generation 

How has the ban in Sweden affected bars and clubs, and has the No Smoking Generation become the New Smoking Generation?

In the long dark winter months -- before the sun claws its way above the quaint low-rise skyline - Stockholm is a deserted place. At least streetside. Sure you will see the odd frost-bitten soul rushing from the metro to work and the sanctuary of the warmth inside. But for the most part the city's residents go underground and Stockholm takes on a calm and tranquility that its watery setting affords.

Except for the smokers. They have no choice. No longer welcome in the bars and caf?they are forced to take to the streets to feed their frowned-upon habit. They can often be seen without coats and hats puffing away to get that nicotine fix in record time before their index and middle-fingers become inseparable from their cigarettes. The hassle of checking out their coats and checking them back in is too much for those just nipping out for a quick fag.

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Cancer and mortality among users and nonusers of snus 

Scandinavian moist snuff (snus) is claimed to be a safer alternative to smoking. We aimed to quantify cancer incidence among male snus users . . .

A statistically significant increase in the incidence of the combined category of oral and pharyngeal cancer among daily users of snus (incidence rate ratio 3.1, 95% confidence interval 1.5-6.6) was found. Overall mortality was also slightly increased (hazard ratio 1.10, 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.21). Although the combined previous literature on snus and oral cancer weigh toward no association, this population-based prospective study provided suggestive evidence of snus-related risks that cannot be lightly ignored.

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Swedes support tough measures against smoking 

Every other Swede wants to prohibit the sale of tobacco products in grocery stores, according to a new study from the Swedish Cancer Society (Cancerfonden).

Overall, 57 percent of Swedes polled support prohibiting the sale of tobacco products in grocery stores.

In its annual report on cancer the Cancer Society demands that smoking be treated as the next major health policy issue.

"Cancer has now become an established issue in the political debate and we can be happy that the government has established an inquiry to develop a national cancer strategy. It is high time politicians tackled the problem of tobacco smoking. The National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) ought to adopt principles for prevention and the inquiry ought to also include concrete proposals about tobacco," Cancer Society secretary general Ursula Tengelin said in a statement.

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• Swedish tobacco tied to premature death  

A form of moist Swedish tobacco known as snus has been linked to premature death in users, a new longitudinal study has found.

Dr. Ann Roosaar at the Odontological Institute said the study found snus -- it rhymes with moose -- posed a significant health risk to those who used it even when compared to normal tobacco, the Swedish news agency TT reported Saturday.

"Even if smoking is without question a much greater threat to health than snus our research rejects the view that the use of Swedish snus is in principle without risk," the researcher said.

The study examined the use of snus in the Swedish municipalities of Enkoping and Habo during a 30-year period

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Genetic Factors In Smoking Also Increase Risk Of Chronic Bronchitis 

Smoking is a known risk factor for respiratory diseases like chronic bronchitis, but genes also play a significant role in its development, according to researchers in Sweden, who studied more than 40,000 Swedish twins to determine the extent to which behavior, environment and genes each play a role ion the development of chronic bronchitis.

"[S]moking behavior has a known genetic component and smoking is a primary risk factor for chronic bronchitis," wrote Jenny Hallberg, of the Department of Public Health Sciences at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Hereditability accounted for 40 percent of the risk for chronic bronchitis, but, interestingly, 14 percent of the genetic risk was also linked to a genetic predisposition to smoke, whether or not the individual actually smoked. Chronic bronchitis along with emphysema account for most cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD.

The researchers analyzed data from the Screening Across Lifespan Twin (SALT) study in Sweden, which surveyed all known living twins in Sweden born in 1958 or earlier.

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• Genetic Factors for Smoking Boost Chronic Bronchitis Risk  

While smoking is the leading risk factor for chronic bronchitis, genes also play a major role in the development of the disease, say Swedish researchers.

The study, which analyzed data on more than 40,000 twins born in 1958 or earlier, found that inherited genes accounted for 40 percent of the risk for chronic bronchitis and that 14 percent of the genetic risk was also linked to a genetic predisposition to smoke, whether or not a person actually smoked.

The findings are published in the first issue for March of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Talk About Travel  

Cherry Hill, NJ: On a trip to see several spots in Scandinavia, my husband and I (both non smokers) booked a cheap room - with bunkbeds - on an overnight ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm. It was cheap for a reason. My tall (6'4) husband didn't fit on the bed, and the floor was a smoking floor! Apparently, lots of young college kids go back and forth from Helsinki to Stockholm and party - drink and smoke - all night. We had already purchased our return trip for a few days later in the same cabin class, but a gracious agent allowed us to upgrade to a room with a view, in a nonsmoking area. Oh, that was heaven!

John Deiner: Good for you, CH. Smoking rooms, if you don't smoke, are disgusting. Glad you changed.

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EU Panel Says Oral Tobacco Is Addictive, Hazardous (Update2) 

Swedish-style snuff hasn't been proven to help people quit smoking, a European Union panel said, dealing a blow to tobacco companies that lobbied for lifting a ban on the product.

Smokeless tobacco is addictive and hazardous to health, the committee said in a report on its Web site. Evidence that the snuff, known as snus, may help Swedish smokers stop isn't sufficient to lift an EU ban because it's ``not possible to extrapolate the patterns of tobacco use'' to other countries, the committee said.

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