Problem:
The oral nicotine product snus is hugely popular in Scandinavia. This has driven the smoking rate in Sweden down to 5% the lowest in Europe while in Norway only 1% of young women now smoke. Yet the EU has banned the product since 1992 – Sweden being exempt.
Action:
Abzed has built an alliance for snus in the UK. We have helped scientists put the case in the media, 20 MPs to lobby ministers and a campaign group to support a legal action in the European Court of Justice. In August 2018 the Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology was so persuaded of our arguments that it called for the UK government to legalise snus post-Brexit.
Result:
Snus was a product with no awareness among UK politicians and journalists. From that unpromising start our persistent lobbying has now got us within touching distance of an end to this historic ban.