Swedish EU parliamentarians are the ones who have the most meetings with the tobacco and nicotine lobby within the EU. Tobacco Facts has previously reported on this. According to Article 5.3 of the Tobacco Convention, elected officials should avoid such contacts. Gijs Van Wijk, at the Smoke Free Partnership, says in an interview with SVT that Swedish politicians are behaving badly.
Speaking for the industry
Now, a new investigation from Follow the Money shows that the Sweden Democrats' Charlie Weimers is not content with being courted by the industry. This spring, he himself was a speaker at one of the industry's events in Brussels - the World Nicotine Congress
The speech is available on Weimer's YouTube channel. He begins by talking about everything the tobacco industry has on its conscience. Millions of dead people and decades of concealing the truth. He talks about the dangers of the products. He goes on to say that the industry has poisoned not only the air, but also the democratic debate.
The “anti-nicotine lobby” – the bad guys
But now, says Charlie Weimers, the situation is completely different. Now the industry is too quiet and too afraid to push its case when it comes to alternative nicotine products.
In his speech, he encourages tobacco and nicotine companies to promote vaping, white snus and other new nicotine products more. He does this based on the argument of harm reduction, that these products are less harmful than smoking.
Things have changed, says Charlie Weimers in his speech to the nicotine industry. Tobacco companies are no longer the ones who kill the most people. That role has now been taken over by the “anti-nicotine lobby.” Those who are not content with regulating nicotine but want to remove it altogether regardless of the consequences, according to Weimers.
Not grading the dangers of different products is not effective public health policy. It is moralism and the pursuit of purity, which goes against human behavior, says Weimers.
The “anti-nicotine lobby” has become what the tobacco lobby once was. They contribute to deaths just as the tobacco industry lobbyists did, Weimers continues.
Charlie Weimers is very critical of EU Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi. According to Weimers, the commissioner states that new nicotine products are as dangerous as cigarettes.
Will cost lives
If the European Commission continues on its current path, their policy will have consequences. When preventable deaths happen, it's not just a matter of wrong policy. It's a form of evil, believes Charlie Weimers.
Weimers calls on the nicotine industry to ensure that independent research is conducted, with good research ethics. Research that can show how many people will die because of the EU Commission's policy.
– Give me those numbers. Then I will take them to the Prime Minister of Sweden and ask the question that must be asked: Is any compromise with the EU worth so many Swedish lives every year?
Anette Jansson, an expert in interest politics and prevention at the Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation, is probably one of those Charlie Weimers is referring to when he talks about the "anti-nicotine lobby".
Scary ignorance
The organization has developed an action plan for a nicotine-free Sweden. The aim is to protect children and young people. Among the measures they want are: That all nicotine and tobacco products are treated equally before the law. That the tax on snus is increased and that the tobacco industry is kept out of political influence in matters of public health.
Very far from Charlie Wiemers, then.
– It is frightening that we have such ignorant parliamentarians representing Sweden in the EU, says Anette Jansson.
Her starting point is that the tobacco industry only has one thing on its agenda – it is not public health but making as many people as possible dependent on their products.
A nicotine epidemic
-It's like we forget that it's actually possible to quit smoking without white snus, or for that matter, it's very possible to never start.
– We had come this far in Sweden before the new nicotine products were introduced. But now we have a completely different situation with an epidemic of nicotine-addicted young people.
– It wouldn't have happened if the industry hadn't felt that they needed to fight for their survival and introduce new products with nicotine, says Anette Jansson.
Footnote:
Tobacco companies are investing heavily in research into new nicotine products, the journalists at Follow the Money show.
Since 2008, researchers affiliated with PMI (Philip Morris International) have published 551 scientific articles on new tobacco products and BAT (British American Tobacco) 276 articles.
PMI has openly stated in an annual report that the company's scientific activities aim to demonstrate that smoke-free products have a positive impact on public health.
Independent researchers tell Follow the Money that the methodology in these studies is often flawed.
