It's no secret that quitting tobacco and nicotine altogether is the best choice a smoker can make. But the reality is that many don’t.
For those individuals, smoke-free products like nicotine pouches, snus, heated tobacco, and e-cigarettes, have the potential to cause less harm than continuing to smoke cigarettes.
This is because, as the name suggests, they don’t produce smoke, so can significantly reduce the average levels of harmful chemicals compared to cigarettes. Importantly, they are not risk-free and are addictive.
Sweden leads the smoke-free way
With the lowest smoking rate in the European Union (EU) at 5.8%, Sweden has seen the number of smokers steadily decrease over the last few decades thanks to the popularity of smoke-free technology.
Public health data shows between 1976 and 2002, Swedish smoking rates fell from 40% to just 15% among men, and from 34% to 20% amongst women.
As a result of the country's push to present smokers with smoke-free alternatives like snus, Sweden’s progress puts it less than 1% away from achieving a “smoke-free” status, which means that 5% or less of the country’s population smokes.
These figures indicate that when backed by science and made to a high standard, smoke-free alternatives can help individuals who would otherwise continue smoking, make a better choice for their health.