In recent years, many young women have started sniffing, and several continue during pregnancy. – Knowledge of the consequences of sniffing during pregnancy has not been well enough known, says State Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Care, Ole Henrik Krat Bjørkholt. – It has been claimed that snus is so much less dangerous for public health, and that is correct – but not during pregnancy. The Ministry of Health and Care informs that the new snuff boxes must read: “This tobacco product is harmful to health and addictive” and “This tobacco product increases the risk of birth defects and stillbirth”. Illustration of snuff boxes. These will be the two new warnings that will appear on snuff boxes in 2023. The changes will take place when the tobacco directive comes into force in 2023. It regulates, among other things, which health warnings must appear on tobacco packages and how e-cigarettes must be designed. There will be new and larger pictures and updated texts on the smoke packs. The Ministry of Health and Care Services has not yet clarified the date on which the directive will come into force, but hopes to get a clarification before Christmas. Difficult to quit for many 15 percent of the population snuffs daily, recent figures from Statistics Norway show. The proportion who snuff daily has almost doubled in the last ten years, and the proportion who smoke daily has fallen sharply. Ellen Rygh is a specialist in community medicine and has been county doctor in Aust-Agder. In the years 2015–2017, she researched the use of snuff during pregnancy. The research group she led saw that 1 in 4 pregnant snus users are unable to quit. Ellen Rygh is a specialist in community medicine and has been county doctor in Aust-Agder. She has researched the use of snus during pregnancy. Photo: Privat Rygh believes there still needs to be more knowledge about the use of snuff during pregnancy, and hopes the warnings can contribute to that. Nevertheless, she sees that it is understandable that there are some who are unable to stop sniffing during pregnancy. – If you have once become addicted to nicotine, it is difficult to stop even if you become pregnant. – It is also the case that being pregnant is stressful for many people – and nicotine is both calming and invigorating. It is quite a pleasant and fine intoxicant, if it had not had these harmful effects. – That is a strong formulation Nils Erlimo, director of communications at Swedish Match Norway. Photo: Swedish Match Norge AS One of the largest tobacco producers of snuff in Norway, Swedish Match, thinks it is positive that the authorities are now imposing warnings on snuff products. The warnings must be applied to two of the snuff box’s surfaces. In addition, there will be a reference to the Directorate of Health’s termination information, sultta.no, in a yellow field. – When it comes to the new warning text aimed at pregnant women, we completely agree. Pregnant women should not use snuff, says communications director Nils Erlimo. – But stillbirth a rather strong word? – That’s a strong wording, even if we don’t have such strong opinions about the wording, he says. – We all agree on what we want to achieve here. There have been warnings on cigarette packets for a long time, but not on snuff. Swedish Match has wanted this for a long time, and applied to label the snuff boxes a couple of years ago, but then they were not allowed. According to the brand regulations, all snuff boxes must be designed the same. And that was one of the main reasons why they were rejected back then.
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Now the snus boxes have a warning for pregnant women – this is what the warning looks like – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
