Jump to full article: Globe and Mail (ca), 2007-10-04
Author: ANDRE PICARD From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Intro: Add to the list of "innovations" the world does not need: smokeless, chewless and spitless tobacco.
Snus (rhymes with moose) is currently being test-marketed by Imperial Tobacco in Edmonton. It's sold in about 230 retail outlets in the city, under the brand name du Maurier. Look for it in the fridge, near the Red Bull. . . .
"We believe the responsible position is to seek out and offer products that may substantially reduce health risks. Harm reduction is what any responsible company strives to do," Benjamin Kemball, president and chief executive officer of Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., told the Edmonton Sun.
That's pretty rich coming from a corporation whose bottom line depends on the inveterate peddling of poison and the promotion of lifelong addiction to its brands.
It's also eerily reminiscent of the unmitigated nonsense tobacco companies used to utter about "light" and "mild" cigarettes. . . .
Of course, you don't hear tobacco companies trumpeting Sweden's punishingly high tobacco taxes, its elaborate anti-smoking campaigns or its workplace safety rules that reduce both smoking and exposure to other carcinogens.
Unlike Sweden (and Norway), Canada does not have a tradition of snus use. Nor does it need one. . . .
Snus is not a smoking cessation aide, it's a smoking prolongation aide.
It's also a fairly blatant method of recruiting young people to tobacco. Sell them this seemingly innocuous product that tastes good and provides a nicotine buzz, and in no time they will be lighting up.
That snus is even being allowed on the Canadian market demonstrates the absurdity of the federal Hazardous Products Act, a consumer protection law that features a clause preventing the government from prohibiting tobacco products.
Change the law. Snuff out snus.
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