Milder Warning Opposed for Swedish Tobacco Item

 

(NYTimes) A bid by a Swedish company to be the first in the United States to display weaker warnings on its tobacco product suffered a blow on Friday when a panel of experts convened by the Food and Drug Administration concluded that the proposed label did not fully convey the product’s health risks.

The company, Swedish Match, argues that its product, Snus (pronounced snoose) — moist ground tobacco in a sachet to be tucked between the lip and the gum — is far less harmful than cigarettes and that any warning label should reflect that. The company argued that the current rules, which treat all tobacco products as equally dangerous, are misleading and a disservice to the more than 40 million Americans who still smoke. Continued