Oral nicotine pouch makes Sweden a model smoke-free society

SWEDEN could soon become the first smoke-free society in the world, thanks to oral nicotine pouch which offers smokers a smoke-free alternative.

The decline in smoking in Sweden coincided with the resurgence of snus, an oral tobacco product that originated more than 200 years ago. Snus consists of ground tobacco leaves in a small pouch placed under the lips.

This led to Swedish Match’s development of ZYN, an oral nicotine product made from food-grade ingredients containing nicotine but no tobacco. ZYN is part of a category of smoke-free products that do not burn or produce harmful smoke.

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Patrik Hildingsson, vice president for communications and public affairs at Swedish Match, which produces oral nicotine pouches, said these products helped Sweden reduce its smoking rate to 5.6 percent, the lowest in the world.

Hildingsson told a group of visiting Filipino journalists that Sweden may reach smoke-free status “within a very near future, most optimistically, maybe next year.”

Sweden is poised to become the first country to achieve smoke-free status, defined as a smoking prevalence of five percent or below. The Public Health Agency of Sweden reports the country’s smoking prevalence is now at 5.6 percent.

While other countries have implemented varying levels of tobacco control with mixed results, Hildingsson said they should look to Sweden for insights.

Hildingsson said the company “used the learnings from Swedish snus and then put that as a platform” to improve the product and meet different consumer preferences. “The main difference here is that it doesn’t contain tobacco. We extract nicotine from tobacco and then add it. Even though Swedish snus is considered a low-chemical type of tobacco product compared to others, we’ve lowered the levels even more with ZYN,” he said.

“We can quite firmly say that ZYN is a better option than cigarettes and other combustible products,” he said.

ZYN has also gained popularity in the United States, attracting legal-age smokers who want to consume nicotine without the smoke or vapor emissions that can bother others. About 358 million cans of ZYN were reportedly shipped to the U.S. in 2023, up 62% from the previous year.

Philip Morris International acquired Swedish Match in 2022 as part of its vision for a smoke-free future. The company said the acquisition would “enable us to provide access to a broader range of better alternatives for those adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke.

ZYN was among the brands presented at the recent Technovation event in Neuchatel, Switzerland, where the media engaged with Philip Morris’ senior leaders, scientists, and research and development experts.

“Since the early ’70s, snus has experienced continuous growth, while cigarette use is declining. Given the harm caused by cigarette smoking, governments are launching various national and regional campaigns,” Hildingsson said.

He credited Swedes’ receptiveness to health trends as a factor in the decline. Sweden’s tobacco control policies rank in the middle among European Union countries. “Sweden has always been an average country, not better or worse than the average EU country in implementing tobacco control measures. But when it comes to outcomes, we outperform every country,” he said.

Lung cancer prevalence in Sweden has significantly decreased compared to other European countries. Hildingsson cited public health data showing that the lung cancer incidence in Sweden is less than half the EU average. He also noted declines in oral, esophageal, and neck cancers.

“Many believe that nicotine causes cancer, but at least the International Agency for Research on Cancer does not classify nicotine as a carcinogen,” he said.

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