• Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, February 4, 2009 10:45 AM

Philip Morris International and Swedish Match AB will jointly sell snuff worldwide and will press the European Union to scrap a ban on the smokeless tobacco known as snus, which they say helps some smokers quit and is less likely to lead to lung cancer than cigarettes.

"Markets like Russia will be the opportunity, where snus is already sold but with limited presence and knowledge," says David Hayes, an analyst at Nomura in London. The EU has said there's evidence that snus helps some smokers quit and is less likely to lead to lung cancer than cigarettes, Thomas Mulier reports, though all tobacco products contain carcinogens and may make heart attacks more deadly.

The Journal reported last week that although U.S. public-health officials note that no clinical trials show that smokeless tobacco is an effective quitting aid, one recent study shows that some newer brands such as Ariva, Camel Snus and Marlboro Snus have sharply lower levels of a dangerous carcinogen than do older varieties such as Copenhagen and Skoal. And some switchers say the benefits of smokeless tobacco can be immediate and dramatic, Kevin Helliker reports.

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