Danes coerced into banning smokeless tobacco?

Reading this article, it certainly seems as if there are fewer arguments in favour than against, and yet the Danes have capitulated to EU demands to take smokeless tobacco off the shelves, after threats of legal action.

'Venstre, Dansk Folkeparti, Liberal Alliance and Enhedslisten all said that they would not support the government’s effort to ban snus.' One spokesman puts this down to tobacco industry lobbying, but all are agreed that removing the snus is counter-productive as a health measure. One of the two people quoted from the cancer charity that supports the measure felt that snus is growing in popularity. He felt that it should be banned even though it is less dangerous from his perspective than smoking – but it still causes mouth and throat cancers. 

If this means that people are using smoking less tobacco, one would have thought that would please him – but it seems that quitting should be done only using approved pharmaceutical methods. 

He also confesses: "We are afraid it will turn out like smoking hookahs [water pipes] ... No one would have believed 10 or 15 years ago that a habit practised by old Lebanese men would suddenly become a hit in western Europe."

Now isn't that revealing.