Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the article in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Patterns of Smoking and Snus Use in Sweden: Implications for Public Health, published in November 2016, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding in that article that the availability and use of snus has been a major factor behind Sweden’s record-low prevalence of smoking.

No formal assessment of the article has been made. The Department holds no assessment of adverse health outcomes caused by snus compared to smoking. Snus is banned in the United Kingdom and we have no plans to introduce additional tobacco products to the market. Alternative tobacco-free products are available, such as nicotine pouches.