Christofer Fjellner
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Christofer Fjellner, Tobacco Tactics, updated 23 February 2021, accessed 11 April 2024.
Christofer Fjellner is a Swedish former Member of European Parliament (MEP) (2004-2019).
Opposition to EU Snus Ban
In 2012 The Independent newspaper reported that Fjelnner was selling snus from his European Parliament offices, despite an EU-wide ban (with the exception of Sweden).
“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 told The Independent. “After a while I thought it would be a fun prank to start selling it. So I bought a small refrigerator, and I started to bring more boxes back with me. Nowadays I have 10 or 15 regular customers, most of them Swedish. There is a bit of disobedience to it – consciously to break the law but be willing to take the consequences for it,” he admits.1
In 2010, Fjellner organised an online petition2 to mobilise public opposition to the EU snus sales ban, calling the ban “discriminatory” (see Picture 1).
Picture 1: Europeans for Snus petition, organised by Christofer Fjellner in late 2010 in response to the Revision of the EU Tobacco Products Directive
Relationship with the Tobacco Industry
Fjellner’s diary shows two meetings in 2010 with snus manufacturer Swedish Match, including a meeting in September 2010, a month before he launched his online petition.3 (see picture 2)
Picture 2: Online monthly diary page of Swedish MEP Christofer Fjellner, showing a listed meeting with Swedish Match on 10 September 2010 titled (translated to English) “Speak with snus manufacturer Swedish Match” (screenshot taken 30 March 2012)
- Snus: EU Ban on Snus Sales and Illegal Sales of Snus via the Internet
- Also see: Smokeless Tobacco, Snus, and Harm Reduction
- Swedish Match
Relevant Links
- Official website (in Swedish) [archived February 2019]
- European Parliament MEP biography (in English)
TCRG Research
- How online sales and promotion of snus contravenes current European Union legislation, S. Peeters, A.B. Gilmore, 2013, Tobacco Control, 22:266-273 doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050209
- The revision of the 2014 European tobacco products directive: an analysis of the tobacco industry’s attempts to ‘break the health silo’, S. Peeters, H. Costa, D. Stuckler, M. McKee, A.B. Gilmore, 2016, Tobacco Control; 25:108-117 doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2014-051919
For a comprehensive list of all TCRG publications, including TCRG research that evaluates the impact of public health policy, go to the Bath TCRG’s list of publications.
