EU Snus Sales

[paulgedz]

Has anyone ever thought about creating some sort of online petition site where we could get people from all over europe to sign it for a lift on the ban of sales of snus in the EU. After doing some research its evident that it poses less of a threat than chew and cigarettes to people, can generate alternative taxes for governments, could be offered as a way to get people off of smoking. This site alone generates a lot of interest within the EU and I'm sure it could be spread further by social media, twitter, facebook etc. and possibly even some of the sites that we all use to buy from. Why should we be forced to pay ridiculous shipping charges to get snus? I'm positive that its something that the people of this site could run and advertise well...

[Skell18]

Already been done, it's called Europeans for Snus.

[paulgedz]

Already been done, it's called Europeans for Snus.

looks more professional than anything i could come up with. thread over haha

[squeezyjohn]

The short answer is yes! Over the years I have certainly signed e-petitions to the EU regarding the ridiculous situation we are currently in where smoking remains legal despite huge health costs to society but modern snus manufactured to scrupulously safe levels is banned throughout the union.

The reason no-one is very pro-actively doing something like that at the moment is because we have followed the news for years and years regarding this subject and have become so worn down by the disgusting operating practices of the EU that we have given up and now seek to get snus through any means necessary ourselves.

To recap:

The ban's history stems right back to 1989 when the UK government took issue with Skoal opening up a factory in Scotland to produce Skoal Bandits in flavours marketed towards children. Health secretary at the time Kenneth Clarke (perversely a notorious smoker) took his concerns to the EU which then set up a ban on ALL forms of oral snuff but expressly exempting nasal snuff and traditional chewing tobacco. This knee-jerk reaction was taken despite the fact that the Swedish snus industry had taken radical steps to reduce the harmful effects of snus to almost zero - citing instead the very real health risks of American dip. The europe-wide ban was implemented in 1992.

When Sweden joined the EU in 1995 it was granted an exemption to the ban on the understanding that it would not market snus to other member states - it is technically an offence in Sweden to sell snus to other EU countries. However with the internet arriving all barriers were dropped and companies were set up to sell snus internationally. The point of law that was being challenged was that if the customer buys it at their computer in another country the transaction still happens in Sweden and it was not challenged until 2010 when a Finnish anti-cancer charity brought a case against a small online snus retailer at the European court who ruled that the transaction happened in Finland and therefore broke the terms of the oral snuff ban - and that has made our lives a whole lot harder!

The Swedish government continues to argue against the ban as it is not in the interest of public health and also against the principles of free trade that the EU embodies.

In 2012 - things looked like they were going to be getting better as the EU tobacco directive was being drawn up and there was much hope for a lift of the ban from within the industry. The EU health commissioner was a Maltese gentleman called John Dalli at the time and he basically attempted to ask for a bribe from Swedish Match to the tune of millions of euros in return for lifting the ban - Swedish Match immediately reported this to the EU parliament and Mr. Dalli left his post - the investigation was a cover-up and never really reached any conclusions - but the ban still remains in place.

The EU parliament is not as accountable as the national parliaments yet it wields huge power over it's member states laws. It is well aware of the situation and only really is answerable to heavy lobbying from the biggest companies. In the case of snus it is the large pharmaceutical companies who want the monopoly on replacements to smoking and have the lobbying power. This also affects the e-cigarette industry too prompting the enforced regulation of them as medical products.

It isn't just this issue - it also applies to another thing I care passionately about - the selling of old heritage seed varieties. In that case they wish to impose regulation to charge a €1000 fee to register any variety of fruit or vegetable seed with them in order for it to be legal to sell them. They sell it as a policy to improve standards when it is very obviously in the interests of the multinational seed companies who want to squeeze out the smaller sellers who could never afford to register up to several thousand heritage seed varieties. The conclusion ... many great varieties will become extinct - and the larger companies will start to sell only F1 varieties which do not produce viable seed so no-one will be able to save their own seed year on year and the large companies will increase their market.

Everything the EU does is based on lobbying power of the large companies ... it achieves this by knowing that the voting public are completely apathetic towards EU politics concentrating instead on their own national governments (can you name your MEP?) It is corrupt. It is anti-democratic and it does not have the concerns of the European population at it's heart - only large companies.

[paulgedz]

Another great post.... isn't there something that the likes of you and I could do to get this up and running again and back in the public eye? I'm already sick of ordering this stuff on the internet and if i ever run out having to wait days til my order arrives. Surely a few thousand names on a petition could get some attention even by a larger group that may have more influence. I'd gladly set up the petition?

[squeezyjohn]

I'll certainly sign it ... but I've come to the conclusion that the EU parliament simply laugh at them and file under plebs.

I used to have your enthusiasm for the fight - but it gets wearing after a while!

[trebli]

This reminds me of the EU anti-snus policy.


“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
-C. S. Lewis