A top European Court of Justice adviser questioned the validity of the bloc's ban on wet tobacco, known as "snus" and made by Swedish Match (SWMA.ST), but said on Tuesday it should remain in place for now.
Swedish Match shares were down 4.82 percent at 74 crowns after the news. The company said it would continue to push to end the ban, which has been in force since 1992, except in Sweden, which negotiated an exception when it joined the European Union in 1995. (EU court adviser questions ban on oral tobacco, 09/07/04.)
EU parliamentarian Gunnar Hökmark points out the double standard at the European Court of "Justice":
The EU bans tobacco advertising and runs anti-smoking campaigns, but at the same time pays nine billion crowns in support to southern Europe to produce 350,000 tons of tobacco. (Andy Butterworth, Snus snub for Sweden at EU court, The Local, 09/10/04.)
For more on this issue, read the following articles:
- Snuff firms sniff a profit in smoking bans (BBC).
- Blow for Swedish tobacco producers (EUobserver).
Take some time and read Swedish Match's press release, and then buy some "snus," or light a cigarette before it is too late...
Don't you think that "Captain Euro" and the bureaucrats in Brussels should spend time on more important things, e.g., on how to spell the Euro currency?! ;)
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