Snus

[happyinherts]

Anyone any experience of snus? It's not available in the UK apparently, but not illegal either.

Apparently it's a form of tobacco a user puts under their lip. News to me, but I've found a tin in my son's room. The labelling was Swedish so I've had to Google translate to find out what it was.

Should I be worried or is it as harmless as vaping?

Smokeless tobacco products aren't harmless unfortunately, they carry a high risk of oral and other cancers. Tell him if he wants to use it he has to have regular checks by his dentist for lumps and discoloured patches, and he should tell them he's using it.

Well it contains tobacco so has all the same risks as cigarettes - addictive, cancer causing etc.

I've used it. It's stronger than conventional cigarettes, I think. It's definitely not harmless - linked to oral cancer.

Thank you - I'm shocked. I don't know who has planted the idea in his head to use it / introduced him to it as it's not readily available in UK. So upsetting, isn't it, when your children (even grown up ones) endanger their health. I shall be having words with him tomorrow.

According to Wikipedia, the sale of snus is illegal in all the EU apart from Sweden so you might want to point that out to your DS.

Although possessing/ taking it is not illegal.

Not good for you, but not as bad as cigarettes for the lungs. Weird he has found some.

Damn right, Fog Cutter, I shall.

The tin I've found has all Swedish writing on it. I had no idea what it was until googled the words and came across a health warning.

Smokeless tobacco carries very high risks of mouth and throat cancer. Higher than cigarettes. OP, I could email you some terrifying photographs that we use for "public information". They're fucking graphic though. Idk if they'd help.

Thanks Mrsmorton but I won't sleep. I'll be too upset. What I see, I can't unsee, if you know what I mean - but I shall be having strong words with my son in the morning. These things are banned for a reason - either the young men these days just don't care or they're totally naïve. As a Mum it hurts though.

Totally understand. Just wanted to say. Sorry if it's upset you

Happy to send them directly to youngster if required.

Actually I've googled imaged it and burst into tears. He will be shown in the morning.

Here's a link to some info in English about snus, and another in Swedish which you could run via Google Translate. (Both are from reputable sources) I can see how snus might appear like a better option than smoking, but it brings many of its own risks with it.
ki.se/en/education/tobacco
www.1177.se/Stockholm/Stall-en-anonym-fraga/Fragor/Ar-det-mindre-farligt-att-snusa-an-att-roka/

The chances are he just has it as a curiosity though OP - it's popular among skiers in my experience, if that's relevant.

I bet it tastes foul too.

Skiing not relevant, but my son was a GB athlete before hip surgery. Been a bit depressed but he's recently become very focused on getting back to top level. He runs 10 miles a day and works 40 hours a week in retail. I need to nip this in the bud though.

Well, if he's neither a smoker nor a vaper, hopefully he doesn't really plan to develop a snus habit either. I mean, why bother? But I can see why a person might want to try it once. Kind of like random horrible liqueurs from foreign countries.

Snus is completely different from other smokeless tobacco, "A recent systematic review and meta-analysis examined the evidence relating to snus and health across six major Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish studies, up to 2010. This concludes that the evidence provides scant support for any major adverse health effects of snus: snus is not associated with cancers of the oropharynx, oesophagus, pancreas, or heart disease or strokes. Compared with smoking snus poses about 1% of the risk of cancer or cardiovascular disease"
Obviously not wise to indulge but not much to get tearful about.

It's just an odd thing to find. As it's banned in UK, wonder who's introduced him to it or given him the idea. This was a fully committed athlete who represented GB at Junior Level in Europe and up to going to uni - was a health freak, would only drink water, sacrificed a social life for training, and geared life around athletics. I hope it's an experiment, but such a shock to find.

Beyond the health concerns, it's just the nastiest habit you could have. My brothers did it growing up and I remember finding containers of dip spit around the house 🤢.

Apparently there were some media stories about footballers using snus earlier this year, may have come from that.
To counter some of the nonsense up thread about cancer "The rise in the use of snus has resulted in Sweden having the lowest lung cancer mortality and tobacco-related mortality in Europe", the ban on snus is akin to the dislike of vaping. Harm reduction versus Prohibitionist ideology.

Here's a link to a paper debunking cancer myths for snus as opposed to other smokeless tobacco found in the Far East which I hope Mrsmorton is referring to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21163315
Snus was only banned in the EU in the 90s because 3 countries had already banned oral tobacco and they had to "harmonise" things, fuck all to do with health - see Sweden.

Smokeless tobacco is associated with high rates of head and neck cancer. ARhythemlessMan I have no interest in your motivation. As a public health expert in head and neck disease... I've said all I need to. Perhaps you'd like to tell a patient they need to be fed through a tube for the rest of their life?

Oh snus is less risky? Great. Driving a golf without a seatbelt is less risky than driving a 911 without one. Let's all do that shall we? 🙄