Sweden’s smoke free success ignored as experts urge EU to change course

STOCKHOLM, 15 April – International health experts have urged European policymakers to rethink their approach to tobacco control, warning that the EU risks overlooking the world’s most successful anti-smoking model just as it prepares its next wave of regulation.

In an open letter to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), Smoke Free Sweden leader Dr Delon Human said the bloc faces a simple choice: learn from Sweden’s record-breaking decline in smoking, or pursue policies that could slow progress and cost lives. 

The intervention comes as new data shows Sweden has reduced daily smoking to just 3.7%, well below the global ‘smoke-free’ benchmark. 

Yet, in the same week these figures emerged, France moved in the opposite direction by banning nicotine pouches, denying adult smokers a safer alternative that could save their lives.

“This stark contrast highlights a growing contradiction at the heart of European tobacco policy,” said Dr Human, a former secretary-general of the World Medical Association.

“Sweden’s success is the result of making safer nicotine alternatives – such as snus, nicotine pouches and vaping products – accessible, acceptable and affordable. As use of these products has risen, smoking has fallen.”

Dr Human said the European Commission’s latest evaluation of tobacco laws fails to properly engage with this real-world success, despite strong public support for harm reduction.

According to the Commission’s own consultation, an overwhelming majority of 24,000 respondents agreed that smokeless alternatives help people move away from cigarettes, yet this consensus is absent from the final report. 

“Nicotine is not what causes cancer- combustion is,” Dr Human added. “Policies that blur this distinction risk confusing the public and discouraging smokers from switching to less harmful options.”

The letter cautions that restricting access to lower-risk products will not eliminate nicotine use, but is likely to keep more people smoking cigarettes, the most harmful form of nicotine delivery.

By contrast, Sweden’s approach has delivered the lowest rates of tobacco-related disease in Europe, offering a clear real-world example of tobacco harm reduction in action.

As the Commission shapes the next Tobacco Products Directive, Dr Human urged DG SANTE to ensure that future regulation is grounded in evidence, responsive to public consultation and proportionate to risk.

“Sweden’s experience should be the foundation of Europe’s next chapter in tobacco control, not an inconvenient outlier,” he concluded.