Anti-smoking committee wants much heavier restrictions on all nicotine products and their substitutes

Smoking in private cars would be banned if there is a child on board

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A committee on tobacco policy set up by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health to review a potential reform of the Tobacco Act handed in its report to Minister of Health and Social Services Paula Risikko (National Coaliton Party) on Thursday.
     
The report proposes a number of amendments, including a complete ban on passenger imports of smokeless tobacco or snus.
      In order to reduce smoking among young people, the committee also proposed banning the display of tobacco on open shelves, selling tobacco products by vending machines, and criminalising the sale of tobacco to minors. Sponsorship by tobacco companies would also be outlawed.
     
Moreover, the anti-smoking committee calls for a clean environment for children and young people, which is why the smoking ban should also be extended to include private cars when an underage person is among the passengers.
      The ban would be monitored in connection with regular traffic surveillance.
      The goal is that Finland would be smoke-free by 2040, which is to be achieved partly by introducing certain anti-smoking programmes targeting the young.
     
Because there is no need for new tobacco products in the market, the committee wants to ban all nicotine products.
      Even all kinds of copies and substitutes for tobacco are on the list, including sweets shaped like tobacco products, such as licorice pipes and chocolate cigars.
     
Minister Risikko voiced her warm support for the goal of the smoke-free Finland, pointing out that the expenses caused by smoking amount to EUR 2 billion every year.
      The annual number of deaths caused by smoking is as high as 6,000, she added.
      Risikko also said that she would establish her stand on the issue of smokeless tobacco after the proposal has been circulated for official review.
     
The proposal for banning snus entirely is a response to Sweden’s failure to prevent the use of smokeless tobacco from spreading, reports Ilkka Oksala from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
      ”The use of snus has become popular particularly among young people in Finland”, Oksala adds.
      The sale of smokeless tobacco is prohibited in all other Union member states with the exception of Sweden and its territorial waters.
     
Since the ban on the commercial advertising of tobacco products from 1976, packets and their display have become a conspicuous marketing method.
      The anti-smoking committee now wants to conceal all trademarks, while tobacco itself would not be banned.
      ”Those who already smoke should have a legal possibility to buy and smoke cigarettes”, says Oksala.
     
The representatives of the current consumer goods industry and the tourism industry submitted a minority opinion on the report.
      One objection held was that the call for a maximum of only 10% of hotel rooms to be available to smokers would hit hoteliers who have a large number of Russians among their clientele.
     
The report will be circulated for statements until the end of January, and proposals will be put to Parliament in the spring. Any reforms would start to come into effect from 2010.
      The suggested outright ban on the import for personal use of snus is likely to make waves, not least among those who feel that it is hypocritical to outlaw one marginal product while merely nibbling at the edges of another larger one - namely cigarettes. Many of the larger EU states have tobacco industries that jealously protect their interests.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Health Commissioner reprimands Astrid Thors for snus liberation campaign (11.12.2008)
  Snus by any other name... (6.5.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat