Factual material

The tobacco industry is continuously launching new nicotine products, both with and without tobacco. Product development and marketing are taking place at a rapid pace, and authorities are struggling to regulate the new products. Tobacco companies market them as less harmful than regular cigarettes. However, scientific knowledge about the new tobacco products is still low, and the long-term health effects are unknown.

Every step in the global tobacco supply chain has an impact on the environment. Tobacco cultivation competes for land with crops that are essential for human sustenance. The production process pollutes ecosystems through the release of toxic substances. Transportation contributes to further climate impact. Cigarette butts spread large amounts of environmental toxins and plastic.

Support for Tobacco Endgame – Smoke-Free Sweden 2025 is growing. More and more authorities, organizations and companies are backing the proposal.
Does your organization also want to be involved? In this folder you will find information about Tobacco Endgame – Smoke-Free Sweden 2025 and what it means to support the initiative. What does the support from your organization mean for our children's opportunities for a tobacco-free future? And what benefits can the organization itself have from taking a stand on the tobacco issue?

Tobacco smoke can be just as harmful to health outdoors as it is indoors – it all depends on the concentration of hazardous particles and the length of time you are exposed. That is why several of the countries that have made the most progress in indoor smoke-free areas in recent years have also started to introduce smoke-free areas in some outdoor areas.

Approximately one in ten cigarettes smoked in the world comes from the illegal tobacco trade. The trade is very profitable and leads to cheap cigarettes being put on the market, which erodes both governments' fiscal policies and public health. It also weakens stability and security in the countries where it is carried out because it fuels organized crime and terrorism. A new international agreement will make every tobacco product traceable. The intention is to eliminate the illegal tobacco trade.

• Tobacco is produced by highly profitable multinational companies and kills millions of people around the world every year.
• The production of tobacco for all types of tobacco products, such as cigarettes and snuff, is based on child labor, debt bondage and deforestation in poor countries.
• Tobacco creates addiction that can cause the user to continue despite knowing that it is life-threatening.

The 193 member states of the UN have agreed on 17 global goals for long-term sustainable development. The goals are about how we will end poverty and hunger and create good living conditions for all people. Tobacco production and consumption in the world are a serious obstacle to achieving this. In this fact sheet you can read about how tobacco threatens the various sustainability goals.

Smoking an e-cigarette is called “vaping”. An e-cigarette often looks like a regular cigarette, but there are many other designs and more are coming all the time. The e-cigarette does not contain tobacco, but (usually) nicotine.

The public support for Tobacco Endgame – Smoke Free Sweden 2025 is increasing. This folder updates the information on the endgame initiative – what it means and what it takes to join and be a supporting organization.

Cigarette packets and snuff boxes displayed in stores and other points of sale are the tobacco companies' most effective marketing. It is with this advertising that they attract new consumers among children, and make it more difficult for tobacco users who are trying to quit. An increasing number of countries are therefore legislating, supported by the WHO's tobacco control convention, that tobacco products may not be displayed in the stores where they are sold.

Since 20 May 2016, it has been prohibited to indicate the tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yields on tobacco product packaging. The same rule applies, according to a new Tobacco Products Directive, throughout the EU. The ban was introduced partly because tobacco companies' data was misleading due to manipulation, and partly because exposing the existence of such content declarations led many consumers to believe that certain cigarettes were less harmful.

A series of new regulations for tobacco came into force on 20 May 2016. They are based on a directive, the “Tobacco Products Directive”, from the EU and involve major changes to, among other things, the health warnings on the packaging.

On May 20, Sweden and other EU countries introduced new regulations to reduce the use of flavorings in tobacco. The regulations prohibit what is known as “characteristic flavor.” This refers to additives with a smell and taste that are different in nature than the pure tobacco smell and taste.

The Tobacco Act was introduced in 1993 to limit the health risks and other problems caused by tobacco use and passive smoking. The Tobacco Act contains provisions on

• non-smoking areas inside and outside
• smoke-free work environment
• health warnings on packaging for tobacco products and herbal products for smoking
• regulation of trade in and importation of tobacco products
• restrictions on tobacco marketing
• what tobacco products may contain and how this is controlled

Pictorial warnings on cigarette packets and other tobacco packaging raise awareness of the health risks of tobacco. Experience and research show that they help reduce tobacco consumption. The larger the warnings, the more impact they have, and warnings with pictures are the most effective. They provide both important knowledge about the risks and arouse emotions.

Article 16 of the Tobacco Control Convention describes measures to reduce sales to persons under the age of 18. The article recommends, in addition to the age limit itself, that all places selling tobacco products should have clearly visible information about the age limit.

In addition, tobacco products must not be directly accessible to customers at points of sale. Tobacco vending machines must not entice or be accessible to minors. In addition, it shall be prohibited to manufacture and sell sweets and toys that resemble tobacco products, as well as to sell cigarettes in small packages or distribute cigarettes for free. It is also recommended that sellers of tobacco products must be at least 18 years old.

Article 14 of the FCTC states that countries should develop and disseminate evidence-based programmes to promote tobacco cessation and adequate treatment for tobacco dependence. The guidelines for the article emphasize that resources for tobacco cessation should be extensive and that factors such as gender, culture, age and socio-economic status should be taken into account to make tobacco cessation strategies as broad as possible.

The guidelines for this article state that countries should eventually introduce a total ban on tobacco advertising, marketing and sponsorship, as such a total ban reduces tobacco use. The guidelines for this article recommend, in line with this, a ban on the display of tobacco products at all points of sale, plain packaging and a ban on tobacco companies engaging in marketing through corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Article 12 deals with how countries should develop their efforts for education, information and advocacy with the aim of increasing knowledge and awareness of various aspects of the tobacco issue (e.g. the working methods of the tobacco industry, the environmental impact of tobacco and the health effects of tobacco use). Countries should also specifically promote training programmes aimed at personnel in health and medical services, social services, schools, the media and other key groups.

The guidelines for this article state that all indoor environments shall be 100% smoke-free, with no permission to establish smoking rooms. From a child rights perspective, full implementation and continuous monitoring of this article is very important.

“When establishing and implementing their public health policies on tobacco control, Parties shall, in accordance with national law, act to protect these policies from the influence of commercial and other interests within the tobacco industry.”

This is stated in Article 5.3 of the Tobacco Control Convention, which should permeate all tobacco prevention and tobacco policy work and is therefore linked to all other articles in the Tobacco Control Convention.

Packaging design is an essential part of the marketing of all kinds of consumer goods. For the tobacco industry, it is one of the few remaining advertising channels to retain and recruit new customers after country after country banned tobacco advertising in newspapers, radio and television, on billboards, in stores and as direct mail.

The cigarette packets and snuff boxes that are intrusively displayed in stores and other points of sale are the tobacco industry's most effective marketing. It is with this advertising that they attract new consumers among children and young people. 90 percent of the costs for tobacco companies' marketing are invested in measures at points of sale, a US study shows.

It is the world's first international convention on a public health issue and it has helped to change the way we view the tobacco issue. Thanks to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, we now fully understand that the tobacco issue is about politics. And not just about health policy, but also about political decisions regarding education, the economy and social issues, among other things.

The Tobacco Control Convention came into force in 2005 and a lot has happened since then. In this publication we provide an up-to-date picture of the Tobacco Control Convention and the work to implement it in Sweden and other countries around the world.

Electronic cigarettes have long been sold in our country without any specific legal regulation. It is very positive that there is now a bill for a law on e-cigarettes, which will come into force in the autumn of 2016. However, Tobaksfakta – an independent think tank – believes that the proposed legislation on e-cigarettes in Sweden is too weak in several ways. We believe that additional rules and measures are required to create a regulation of e-cigarettes that truly protects our children.

This document describes how we believe legislation and other interventions should be designed regarding e-cigarettes.

(in English)

This document is a result of the project, The Child's Rights Concerning Tobacco (CRCT). Tobaksfakta, an independent think tank, carried out the project with support from the Swedish Public Health Agency and in collaboration with several county councils and regions. The aim of the project is to strengthen the child's right to a tobacco-free childhood and adolescence, by different means of public education.

The importance of that right is emphasized by two international conventions which support and strengthen each other: the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control — commonly referred to as CRC and the FCTC.

In English 

As indicated by this report, Sweden's tobacco control legislation is far from the leading edge of international developments, as was the case in previous years. Instead, Sweden is falling behind its Nordic neighbors and the rest of Europe.

Awareness of WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is completely inadequate, and must increase among political leaders, other decision makers and the general public. Sweden must actively develop its tobacco control policy in step with international efforts related to the FCTC.

This report shows that Sweden's tobacco policy is far from being at the forefront of international developments where we previously were. Instead, Sweden is lagging behind compared to its Nordic neighbors and the rest of Europe.

Awareness of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is completely inadequate and must be increased among politicians, other decision-makers and the general public. Sweden must actively develop its tobacco policy in line with the international work being done within the framework of the Tobacco Convention. So far, Sweden has ignored the new recommendations.