EU Sues Finland for Allowing Snus

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  • darkwing
    Member
    • Oct 2007
    • 415

    EU Sues Finland for Allowing Snus

    EU takes Finland to court again for not banning chewing tobacco
    The Associated PressPublished: October 23, 2007

    BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Commission said Tuesday it will take Finland to court again — and ask for it to pay a €2 million (US$2.8 million) penalty, plus daily fines — for failing to ban chewing tobacco in the Swedish-speaking Aland Islands.

    European regulators said all oral tobacco — whether chewing tobacco or snus — is dangerous because it contains "particularly large quantities" of cancer-causing chemicals.

    Only Sweden has an exemption to an EU ban on the smokeless tobacco called snus that is usually stuck under the upper lip. In 2004, the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice upheld a ban on the substance, ruling that the dangers of snus merited its being outlawed.

    The EU executive said it would ask the EU's highest court to charge Finland a fine of €2,029,536 (US$2,875,040) and impose daily fines of €19,828 (US$28,089) per day if it continues to disobey the ban on oral tobacco.

    The Aland Islands changed local laws last January to try to bow to EU wishes — but Brussels said they did not go far enough because they only stopped the snus variety and not other types of oral tobacco, such as chewing tobacco, from entering the market.

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    Its rules also allow oral tobacco to be sold on boats once they leave Finnish waters, meaning that Baltic Sea ferries can skirt the ban during part of their voyage.

    Chewing tobacco is banned in the rest of Finland. But, situated in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden, the Aland archipelago has its own legislation, government and a 30-member Parliament. Finland and Aland also have an agreement that Aland pays its own EU fines.

    Finnish media reported from the Aland Islands that following the EU executive's decision, legislators on Tuesday began to compile a law to ban all forms of tobacco in the archipelago of 25,000 inhabitants.
  • Craig de Tering
    Member
    • Nov 2006
    • 525

    #2
    Hehehe, Åland already threatened to declare full independence from Finland a few years ago when the Finns said they couldn't keep using their snus.
    This might just be the final straw for the independence-minded Ålanders. They have almost nothing common with Finland except some minor laws from Helsinki.
    The EU itself will have to write new procedures because there exist none at this moment concerning secession from the EU.

    GO ÅLAND!
    **** you Brussels!

    Comment

    • RealmofOpeth
      Member
      • May 2007
      • 407

      #3
      what a bunch of shit. this EU gangbang makes me want to puke. i don't know a whole lot about it, except stupid shit like this pisses me off. so maybe i should keep my mouth shut until i know more...maybe not.
      **** the EU
      what good is there for the common people from this umbrella of total control?

      Comment

      • chainsnuser
        Senior Member
        • Jan 2007
        • 1388

        #4
        Yeah, I was on vacation in Denmark, a few years ago, when I saw a pickup-truck with a sticker "**** E.F." (E.F. = danish abbreviation for E.U.). This sticker would fit very well on my car! I'll have to look for this sticker, when I'm in Denmark again! Maybe I also get a "**** E.U."-sticker at a local gasoline-station. Will have to look!

        Cheers!

        Comment

        • Zero
          Member
          • May 2006
          • 1522

          #5
          ^ :lol: I just bought a shirt with this on it :

          Comment

          • Craig de Tering
            Member
            • Nov 2006
            • 525

            #6
            :shock:
            That shirt is SO TRUE!
            But dayim, €33 without S&H for a friggin' shirt?

            Comment

            • darkwing
              Member
              • Oct 2007
              • 415

              #7
              A Critical Commentary from openmarket.org Blog

              Europe’s Hypocrisy on Tobacco and Health Care
              Hans Bader | 10/24/2007 @ 1:39 pm

              The European Commission is taking Finland to court to try to force it to ban the sale of snus, a form of smokeless tobacco. The snus is being sold on a couple of remote Finnish islands.

              “The Commission has ‘no tolerance’ for the sale of oral tobacco ‘given the health risks,’ said EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou in a statement.”

              This is an utterly absurd position, given that the Commission tolerates the sale of cigarettes, which are infinitely riskier to your health (and lungs) than smokeless tobacco, as the New York Times and health experts have noted.

              But then, cigarettes are heavily taxed in Europe, and produce huge amounts of revenue to fund European bureacracies. And the cigarette industry has more political clout and connections than the makers of smokeless tobacco.

              The European Commission is harming, not helping, public health by banning smokeless tobacco, since it is a substitute for cigarettes, which are far more unhealthy. Sweden, where smokeless tobacco is legal, has a lower smoking rate (and lower lung cancer rate) than the rest of Europe, where smokeless tobacco is banned.

              This is a classic example of why government regulations in the name of public health should not be accepted uncritically. Sometimes the Nanny State is very dumb, and does things that make the public less, rather than more, healthy.

              The European Commission’s stupidity has parallels in the area of chemical regulation, where public health suffers because of regulators’ phobia of chemicals. In America, the 1958 Delaney Amendment, softened in 1996, barred new chemicals that are safer than old chemicals if exposure to ridiculously large amounts of the new chemicals can harm a lab rat. In Europe, a nightmare of red tape called REACH makes it even more difficult to introduce or make use of chemicals, even if they have vital public health uses.

              Filed in: Economic Liberty, Healthcare/FDA Reform, Legal/Constitutional, Nanny State, Precaution & Risk, International | No comments yet |

              Comment

              • Master Chief
                Member
                • May 2007
                • 46

                #8
                This is exactly the kind of mentality that all of us snusers have i think...smoking is one of the leading causes of deaths in the world. Unfortunately the EU among other organizations in the world see these facts are thinking "so why not try to make MORE PEOPLE SMOKE SO THEY DIE!!! Maybe we can get the world population to decrease a bit!!!"

                Sorry, but I had to let that out.

                Comment

                • Zero
                  Member
                  • May 2006
                  • 1522

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Craig de Tering
                  :shock:
                  That shirt is SO TRUE!
                  But dayim, €33 without S&H for a friggin' shirt?
                  yeah, but it's fairtrade organic cotton and hemp, eco-friendly production facilities, high standard labour environment, etc - I don't mind paying to support socially responsible products.

                  http://www.thtc.co.uk/index.php?p=ethics

                  ^ That's a reasonable business practice to aspire to.

                  Comment

                  • Reindeer
                    Member
                    • Jul 2008
                    • 22

                    #10
                    Sorry for bringing old stuff back up

                    If I have right information, this thing ended up for total ban of selling snus, by law, but in real life, they still sell it under counter. For finnish snusers, only way to get snus with good prises is to go to boat cruise to sweden, or visit Russia.

                    I don't know why we didn't apply for snus, we lose thousands of tax money to sweden, and lately, after Finland banned smoking in bars, snus using has become more and more popular. I saw some statistics about snusing in Finland, and for male population, about 10% use snus. At least in my working place (finnish post, truck driving), snus using is really popular.

                    1st message here, sorry for my crappy english skills. :lol:

                    Comment

                    • Anders
                      New Member
                      • Jun 2008
                      • 10

                      #11
                      **** THE EU !!!

                      We woted NO twice! Long live freedom. Long live sovereign nation states!

                      Comment

                      • Grim
                        Member
                        • Jun 2008
                        • 850

                        #12
                        How about the governing bodies of the EU go hang themselves.

                        Snus is illegal because it is dangerous.

                        But alcohol and cigarettes are still legal.

                        LMAO. What a bunch of idiots.

                        Comment

                        • holnrew
                          Member
                          • Jul 2008
                          • 613

                          #13
                          It's only the nanny state the EU seems to be introducing that bothers me about it, I'm all for it otherwise.

                          Comment

                          • matreshkin
                            Member
                            • Dec 2008
                            • 16

                            #14
                            I remember they used to sell Åland-variety snus on the ferry going from Finland to Stockholm... it came in black oval boxes with golden letters on it... and it was STRONG! In fact the best stuff I ever tried. It had terrible pungent smell and taste at first so I even thought I'd have to throw it away. But after a few weeks it got more agreeable and mellow and I had a fantastic sensation from it... I was truly sad when it was withdrawn from sale afterwards. :cry:

                            Poor Ålanders... they obviously know a thing or two about snus and now this stupid EU just barges in and destroys all fun :x

                            Comment

                            • Doc Robot
                              Member
                              • Apr 2008
                              • 24

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Zero
                              ^ :lol: I just bought a shirt with this on it :

                              For trolling purposes I hope!

                              Comment

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