WASHINGTON -- For the first time, U.S. health regulators have judged a type of smokeless tobacco to be less harmful than cigarettes.
The announcement on Tuesday makes Swedish Match tobacco pouches the first so-called reduced-risk tobacco product ever sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration.
FDA regulators stressed that their decision does not mean the pouches are safe, just less harmful, and that all tobacco products pose risks. The pouches will still bear mandatory government warnings that they can cause mouth cancer, gum disease and tooth loss.
But the company will be able to advertise its tobacco pouches as posing a lower risk of lung cancer, bronchitis, heart disease and other diseases than cigarettes.
The pouches of ground tobacco, called snus -- Swedish for snuff and pronounced "snoose" -- have been popular in Scandinavian countries for decades but account for just 5% of the $9.1 billion U.S. market for smokeless tobacco products, according to the Euromonitor market research firm.
Users stick the teabag-like pouches between the cheek and gum to absorb nicotine. Unlike regular chewing tobacco, the liquid from snus is generally swallowed, rather than spit out. Chewing tobacco is fermented; snus goes through a steamed pasteurization process.
FDA acting commissioner Ned Sharpless said the agency based its decision on long-term, population-level data showing lower levels of lung cancer, emphysema and other smoking-related disease with the use of snus.
Sharpless added that the agency will closely monitor Swedish Match's marketing efforts to ensure they target adult tobacco users.
"Anyone who does not currently use tobacco products, especially youth, should refrain from doing so," he said in a statement.
Stockholm-based Swedish Match sells its snus under the brand name General. The pouches compete against products from Altria and R.J. Reynolds.
Business on 10/23/2019