While the percentage of Americans who smoke cigarettes continues to decline in the US, it still remains alarmingly high, considering the massive amount of anti-smoking information available, as well as wide spread restrictions on public smoking. A Gallup poll indicated that 21% of adult Americans admit to lighting up on a regular basis, down from 25% in 2001. That's still quite a large number of people willing to risk the serious health risks associated with inhaling nicotine, and long list of carcinogens, into their lungs.

Sweden has one of the lowest smoking rates in the World. In 2007, the percentage of adults in that country was around 14%. Most other countries in the European Union have rates ranging between 21-44% This can be easily explained by a long standing tradition in Sweden: An oral tobacco substance known as snus.

Originating in the early 19th century, snus is a finely ground tobacco that is mixed with salt, water, and various flavorings, then packaged in either loose form or tea bag like portions. While American chew and snuff require spitting, snus does not, making it more socially acceptable and inviting. The reason for its development was due to the tendency of tobacco grown in Sweden to crumble when spun for the traditional chewing variety of this plant. Where snus greatly differs from American products, such as Skoal and Copenhagan, is the process: American dip is fermented, which produces a higher percentage of tobacco specific nitrosamines, which are highly carcinogenic. Snus is prepared in a pasteurization process with steam, which kills most of microbes that are responsible for producing cancer causing chemicals in tobacco. As a result, studies seem to indicate no serious link between snus use and oral cancer. Despite its widespread use in Sweden, the country has one of the lowest rates of oral cancer in the World, as well as one of the lowest rates for all diseases related to use of tobacco products.

That's not to say that snus is completely without risk, of course. One study showed an increase in the occurrence of pancreatic cancer in snus users. Also, nicotine is proven to cause increased metabolism. Suffice to say, there is no such thing as a totally risk free nicotine delivery system. Without a doubt, total abstinence from the drug is the wisest choice. But snus does appear to pose the least risks of all.

Oddly enough, the European Union banned the sale of all oral tobacco products in 1992, exempting only Sweden because of its long standing tradition of snus use in the Scandinavian country. They based the ban on a conclusive study of North American & Western European smokeless tobacco products, which found them to be carcinogenic. This doesn't seem very logical when you take into account how much more dire cigarettes are, in that regard, when compared to just about every form of oral tobacco.

Snus represents a method of harm reduction for the inveterate smoker who, despite repeated efforts at giving up the habit, find themselves failing time after time. The big question is would the US benefit from a major marketing campaign of this Swedish tobacco product, enticing hard core smokers to stop lighting up, and start inserting snus pouches into their upper lips. R.J. Reynolds and Camel both have introduced snus to their product lines, and are test marketing them in the US Only time will tell if American smokers will embrace this Swedish tradition in great numbers.

The "harm reduction" argument will always be largely unpopular with the anti-tobacco crowd. An argument could be solidly made -- and is another factor in the EU ban -- that snus is far too inviting to the teen market. A discreet pouch, which requires no spitting, might actually create more nicotine addicts who could potentially graduate to cigarettes. Still, taking the Swedish statistics into consideration, it just might be a risk worth taking if there's a chance the reduction of smoking related diseases could dramatically decline as a result.

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