Health experts praise Swedish Finance Minister’s defence of nicotine pouches against EU

Stockholm – International health experts have applauded Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson’s robust defence of nicotine pouches in a brewing row with the European Union over safer alternatives to cigarettes.

The Finance Minister has angrily condemned a leaked EU proposal to use revenue from higher taxes on nicotine products to help fund the bloc’s next long-term budget as “completely unacceptable”.

“Safer smoke-free nicotine products have helped Sweden virtually wipe out cigarettes, and the Finance Minister is absolutely right to defend them,” said Dr. Delon Human, leader of Smoke Free Sweden and a former Secretary-General of the World Medical Association.

“Other countries, with dramatically higher smoking rates, should be following the Swedish model instead of trying to exploit it for financial gain.”

Svantesson’s intervention comes in the wake of groundbreaking new evidence that nicotine pouches have been a game-changing catalyst in driving Sweden to the brink of becoming the world’s first smoke-free society.

The newly released Power in a Pouch report by Smoke Free Sweden reveals that these innovative tobacco-free products have helped to supercharge Sweden’s decline in smoking rates, particularly among women, since their introduction in 2016.

The report’s survey of ex-smokers nationwide revealed pouches as the most effective quitting aid among both genders, with 60% of women citing flavour variety as their primary reason for choosing them. Focus groups consistently described pouches as “socially considerate, clean and stigma-free” – qualities that made quitting achievable where other methods had failed.

“For the EU to increase taxes on the very products that are saving lives would be counterproductive and morally questionable,” Dr. Human said. “Sweden provides real-world evidence that these products work, particularly for women who have struggled to quit for decades, yet policymakers seem more interested in revenue generation than public health outcomes.

“At a time when the average EU smoking rate remains at 24% – five times higher than Sweden’s – policymakers should be learning from Swedish success, not penalising it.”

The Swedish government recently enshrined harm reduction as part of official national policy and its defence of safer, smoke-free alternatives extends beyond the current tax dispute. Its has already intervened at the European Commission level to warn against draconian restrictions on nicotine pouches, issuing formal ‘Detailed Opinions’ cautioning that proposed bans in Spain and France will undermine proven harm reduction strategies.

The Power in a Pouch report data points to public support for these interventions, with the  majority of Swedes polled supported the exporting of ‘the Swedish model’ to other countries.

An overwhelming majority of users agreed with the statement: “New bans or restrictions on nicotine pouches are probably the single biggest obstacle to achieving smoke-free status in Europe and the wider world.”