Sweden and Norway, where a large proportion of smokers switched to snus, have the lowest tobacco-related mortality for men among EU countries.
A new study shows implementation of the WHO's tobacco control measures known as MPOWER has no clear association with low-levels of tobacco-related mortality in Europe. Instead, switching from smoking to Swedish-style snus is a more effective strategy. In 2007, WHO launched MPOWER, a process and monitoring mechanism to implement the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Comprising six measures, it aims to reduce the demand for tobacco.
The independent research, conducted by distinguished tobacco dependence researcher Dr. Lars M. Ramström, assessed MPOWER's effectiveness by comparing the extent of implementation of these tobacco control measures with tobacco-related death rates across Europe by using figures provided by the Tobacco Control Scale (TCS), a tool that grades every European country's level of MPOWER application, and data on tobacco-related mortality from The Global Burden of Disease. After analyzing his results, Dr. Ramström found no correlation between tobacco-related mortality and a country's level of implementation of MPOWER measures for Europe's women, and a very weak correlation for the continent's men.
Crucially, though, the two countries with the lowest tobacco-related mortality for men were Sweden and Norway. In both nations a large proportion of male smokers switched from cigarettes to Swedish-style snus, a product that is freely available in both, but banned from sale in the EU except Sweden. Despite Sweden's TCS score being below average, it has achieved a lower rate of tobacco-related mortality than all the countries that have higher levels of MPOWER implementation except Norway, providing further evidence in support of tobacco harm reduction.