A row has erupted over snuff tobacco in Norway after a state researcher said the government should be promoting it as a way of stopping smoking.
Health officials have dismissed the criticisms of Karl Erik Lund, however, saying the substance, known as snus in Norway, is highly addictive and can cause cancer.
Mr Lund, of the state institute for alcohol and drug research SIRUS, told Aftenposten newspaper that Norway should start being honest with its people by telling them that snus is “much less dangerous” than smoking.
Dr Maja-Lisa Løchen, a professor of preventive medicine at the Univerity of Tromsø, however, told the newspaper that she was “furious” that they had given the story “so much space”.
“No research has documented that using snus is an effective way to stop smoking,” Dr Løchen told Aftenposten. “On the contrary, some smokers can wind up using both forms of tobacco.”
Løchen added that users, who usually place the snus under their lips to absorb the nicotine, also risk contracting other forms of cancer. She added that the health ministry would not be recommending the product.
Snus is banned in many European countries but has a long tradition of use in Norway and Sweden where it is still legal
Dr. Løchen would be less furious if she studied the research more carefully. Dr. Neal Benowitz used the research conducted in Sweden and Norway, as well as more recent research in the US to evaluate the safety of nicotine in his presentation to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He stated “The lack of increase in common cancers in lifelong ST users indicates that nicotine is not a general cancer promoter,” and “Nicotine may slightly increase the risk of MI and stroke. If so the risks are far lower than those of cigarette smoking.”
“A Pilot Study of Smokeless Tobacco in Smoking Cessation” was published in The American Journal of Medicine (Volume 104, pages 456-458, May 1998) by Ken Tilashalski, Brad Rodu and Philip Cole. The authors stated, “After one year, 31 percent of men and 19 percent of women had attained smoking cessation with smokeless tobacco, for an overall success rate of 25 percent. An additional seven percent of our participants had reduced their cigarette consumption by at least 50 percent. Nearly everyone in our study had repeatedly failed to quit smoking with nicotine gum or patch.”
An article published in the Journal of Internal Medicine (Volume 252, pages 398-404, 2002 reported, “In 1986 19% of men smoked and 18% used snus, but by 1999 only 11% of men smoked and 27% used snus. The decline of smoking and increase in snus use was not coincidental. Our analysis shows that snus was the major factor in smoking cessation among men.”
Dr. Løchen also needs to take into account that “dual use” does not translate into “increased risk”. Those who use both products smoke fewer cigarettes per day, which reduces their risk of smoking-related lung diseases by decreasing their Pack-Years of exposure.