What the EU could learn from Sweden on lung cancer

What the EU could learn from Sweden on lung cancer

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Beatrice Timgren is a Member of the European Parliament for Sweden. We spoke to her at WNC about snus, single-use plastic and Sweden's low lung-cancer rate. Her answers appear below in her own words.

You link nicotine products to the single-use plastic debate. How?

"When it comes to single-use plastic and nicotine products, we have another product in Sweden that can actually replace cigarettes. Because, you know, in cigarettes you have a plastic filter made from plastic. You don't have this problem in nicotine [pouches]. Of course, you have a small amount of glue in the [pouches], but not on the same level. And in Sweden, the amount of smokers is low, and therefore even the waste from cigarettes is low … So I think the EU can learn from this example from Sweden."

And the health results?

"I think it's really strange that we ignore the result that we have in Sweden. We have much lower rate of lung cancer in Sweden because of one reason: that we have snus and nicotine [pouches]. In Sweden we have a long tradition of snus, especially among men. They have been [using] snus for decades and we can see the result in the rate of lung cancer. If we just compare two countries close to each other like Sweden and Denmark, the amount of lung cancer is so much higher in Denmark than in Sweden because they don't have the same tradition when it comes to snus."

"We have a much lower rate of lung cancer in Sweden because of one reason: that we have snus and nicotine pouches."

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Beatrice Timgren (b. 1989) is a Member of the European Parliament for the Sweden Democrats, sitting with the European Conservatives and Reformists since July 2024. In Parliament, she serves as a member of the Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety and the Delegation for relations with Israel, and as a substitute member on the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.

Her work focuses on the practical consequences of EU policy for households and industry—particularly where environmental measures intersect with affordability and competitiveness.

Before entering the European Parliament, she served in the Committee on Environment and Agriculture in the Swedish parliament. She holds a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and has professional experience from the private sector, including roles in the automotive industry.