Swedish snus and the GothiaTek standard

Some smokeless tobacco products, such as Swedish snus, are today considered to be associated with substantially fewer health hazards than cigarettes. This risk differential has contributed to the scientific debate about the possibilities of harm reduction within the tobacco area.

Although current manufacturing methods for snus build on those that were introduced more than a century ago, the low levels of unwanted substances in modern Swedish snus are largely due to improvements in production techniques and selection of raw materials in combination with several programs for quality assurance and quality control that have been successively introduced during the past 30-40 years. In the late 1990s these developments formed the basis for a voluntary quality standard for Swedish snus named GothiaTek.

In recent years the standard has been accepted by the members of the trade organization European Smokeless Tobacco Council (ESTOC) so it has now evolved into an industrial standard for all smokeless tobacco products in Europe.The initial impetus for the mentioned changes of the production was quality problems related to microbial activity and formation of ammonia and nitrite in the finished products. Other contributing factors were that snus came under the jurisdiction of the Swedish Food Act in 1971, and concerns that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s about health effects of tobacco, and the significance of agrochemical residues and other potential toxicants in food stuffs.This paper summarizes the historical development of the manufacture of Swedish snus, describes the chemical composition of modern snus, and gives the background and rationale for the GothiaTek standard, including the selection of constituents for which the standard sets limits.

The paper also discusses the potential future of this voluntary standard in relation to current discussions about tobacco harm reduction and regulatory science in tobacco control.

Biglerville a no-smoking zone for minors

In the United States, it is illegal for those under the age of 18 to purchase any tobacco products. On Tuesday night, the borough of Biglerville took that legality to the next logical step and has made it against the law for minor to use tobacco products in public.

Many teenagers smoke brands like Red&White cigarettes or Dunhill cigarettes.

Per an ordinance unanimously adopted by Biglerville’s council, anyone under 18 years old that is caught using tobacco products in public will be subject to a $100 fine.

Councilwoman Kaye Boyer, who chairs the Biglerville ordinance committee, said, “Minors aren’t supposed to have tobacco period so why should they be allowed to use it? It’s a problem we see quite often here in the borough. If you look around after high school football games on Friday nights, there are often groups of kids right there on the street using tobacco products. We had to put something on the books to try and stop this.”

The idea for the ordinance came from the Biglerville Police Department who presented it to ordinance council. Police Chief Gary Lanious said of the ordinance’s enforcement, “If we see someone who looks like a minor out in public using tobacco, we will go up and verify their age.” The community is sending a very clear message that if you are under the age of 18, use of tobacco products is not permitted and will not be tolerated.

RAPID FIRE MARKETING'S BIONIC CIGS TO SUBSTANTIALLY BENEFIT FROM FDA RULING

Rapid Fire Marketing (Pink Sheets: RFMK) announced today the new ruling by the FDA last Monday to regulate electronic cigarettes as tobacco products is a huge victory for Bionic Cigs. Being regulated as a tobacco product instead of regulation under significantly stricter rules for drug-delivery devices will make market penetration much easier for Bionic Cigs.
Electronic cigarettes such as Bionic Cigs, continue to gain popularity all across the globe. Nearly 46 million Americans smoke cigarettes. About 40 percent try to quit each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Electronic cigarettes have grown from a few thousand users in 2006, when they were first introduced to several million users in 2011. A number of makers and distributors of electronic cigarettes state that tens of thousands of new users are switching to the safer alternative every week.

Many smokers still preffer to smoke regular cigarettes as Winston cigarettes or Bond cigarettes.
Users say that electronic cigarettes address not only the nicotine addiction, but the behavioral aspects of smoking. With an electronic cigarette, the holding of the 'cigarette,' the puffing, and seeing the smoke come out is a much more satisfying experience than patches and pills. There are far fewer risks and chemicals involved with electronic cigarettes when compared to the more than 4,000 chemicals found in standard cigarettes.

"Bionic Cigs will benefit in a big way given the FDA ruling. It will free our company and industry from the constraints of being classified as drug delivery which is accompanied by substantial regulation and red tape," said a company spokesperson. "Our sales at Bionic Cigs continue to increase and we are going to launch an aggressive new marketing program this week. We expect to achieve, as the objective, substantially more sales in the coming months," the spokesperson concluded.

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