Swedes' drug of choice snuff said

European MP Christofer Fjellner wants to legalise the sale of snus. Photo / Supplied

Brussels-based politician still happy to sell his friends snus in wake of EU scandal.

European MP Christofer Fjellner wants to legalise the sale of snus.

The corridors of the European Parliament building in Brussels are hardly the obvious hangout for a brazen drug dealer to traffic his produce across international borders.

Yet should you need an illicit fix of snus - Swedish snuff tobacco which cannot be sold legally anywhere in the EU apart from in its home country - Christofer Fjellner's office is the place to go.

As part of his campaign to legalise the sale of snus, the Swedish MEP stocks up on the €4 ($6.40) cans of moist, brown powder every time he flies home. "I kept some in my office for private use and some friends used to knock and ask if I had some to sell them," Fjellner, 35, said. "Nowadays I have 10 or 15 regular customers, most of them Swedish."

Last week the battle over the status of snus led to a corruption scandal. The Health Commissioner, John Dalli, resigned after an official report found a fellow Maltese politician, Silvio Zammit, had approached the leading manufacturer of snus, Swedish Match, offering to work with Dalli to legalise snus in exchange for bribes worth €60 million. The EU's anti-corruption office, Olaf, concluded it "did not find any conclusive evidence of the direct participation of Dalli but did consider that he was aware of these events". Dalli denies the allegations.

However, the fight for the right to snus, and for tobacco companies to launch a new product on an untapped market across the Continent, has been intensifying in recent years. It is not illegal to possess snus, nor to consume it. But its sale has been banned in the EU since 1992 following attempts to introduce pouches of chewable US tobacco. Health campaigners pointed to evidence that it can cause mouth cancer.

Only Sweden, where as many as 20 per cent of the population are thought to be users, is exempt, after it negotiated a waver on joining the EU in 1995. Fans of Swedish snus have been joined by many tobacco experts in arguing that it is much more refined and pure than American snuff, thereby posing far less health risks. With the Royal College of Physicians saying that it is 1000 times less harmful than cigarettes, it has been hailed as a healthier alternative for heavy smokers.

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Snuff is defined by the EU as "moist oral tobacco which can be bought loose and in small, ready-to-use, portions and involves taking a pinch of 1g to 2g of loose snuff or a portion-bag pouch and placing it between the lip and cheek or gum". Only snuff produced by Swedish Match is considered to be genuine snus.

- Independent