In a debate in this week's PLoS Medicine, public health researchers discuss whether or not the public should be informed that using oral, smokeless tobacco (Swedish snus) is less hazardous to health than smoking tobacco.

Arguing the case for providing such information, Carol Gartner and Wayne Hall (University of Queensland, Australia) point to the Swedish experience. Snus seems to be widelyused as an alternative to cigarettes in Sweden, contributingto the low overall prevalence of smoking and smoking-relateddisease. "On the Swedish experience," say Gartner and Hall, "there is a strong prima facie case on public health and ethical grounds for recommending snus to inveterate smokers who want to reduce their health risks and for considering public policies, such as lower taxes for snus and public information campaigns, to promote its use by smokers."

However, Simon Chapman and Becky Freedman (University of Sydney, Australia) argue that Sweden's experience is likely to be specific to that culture and not transferable to other settings, and that if tobacco companies are allowed to market snus they will undoubtedly use the opportunity to promote tobacco as well. "Snus enthusiasts in the public health community," say Chapman and Freedman, "focus on snus' potential to take people away from smoking. However transnational tobacco companies are already marketing snus using slogans that mention smoking, such as: "When you can't smoke, snus."

###

Citation: Gartner CE, Hall WD, Chapman S, Freeman B (2007) Should the health community promote smokeless tobacco (snus) as a harm reduction measure? PLoS Med 4(7): e185

Everything published by PLoS Medicine is Open Access: freely available for anyone to read, download, redistribute and otherwise use, as long as the authorship is properly attributed.

CONTACT:

Coral Gartner
University of Queensland
School of Population Health
Public Health Building
Herston Road
Herston, Queensland 4006
Australia

Wayne Hall
University of Queensland
School of Population Health
Level 2 School of Population Health Building
University of Queensland
Herston, QLD 4006
Australia

Simon Chapman
University of Sydney
School of Public Health
Sydney
Australia

Becky Freeman
University of Sydney
School of Public Health
Sydney
Australia

About PLoS Medicine

PLoS Medicine is an open access, freely available international medical journal. It publishes original research that enhances our understanding of human health and disease, together with commentary and analysis of important global health issues. For more information, visit plosmedicine/

About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit plos/

Source: Andrew Hyde
Public Library of Science