Swedish News:

American chocolate banned in Sweden. Monumental agreement in Swedish energy consumption plans. Some newborns with Down syndrome are healthier.

If you're addicted to m&ms you need to bring your own when traveling to Sweden this summer.
American chocolate banned in Sweden
M&M's, created in 1941, are sold in more than 100 countries. Come June 30, however, Sweden will no longer be one of them. A Swedish court ruled that M&Ms, owned by Mars and sold in Sweden since 2009, can’t be sold or advertised with its lowercase lettering "m&m's" because a similarly named Marabou candy — chocolate covered peanuts called "m" — have existed in Sweden since 1957. Before 2009, Mars honored an earlier agreement with Marabou and did not sell its chocolates in Sweden. In 2010, the case went to court and Mars won the first trial. But on June 10 this year the Marabou company, Mondelez, appealed and won. Mars could take the matter to the Supreme Court, but in the meantime, the ruling is that the logo is too similar to the lowercase "m" used by Marabou; it may have to use the capital M&M’s logo in Sweden starting in July. Marabou is owned by American food and drinks company Mondelez, which also owns the Cadbury and Toblerone brands.
Windmills at the shore. Photo: Dirk Goldhahn/Creative Commons
Monumental agreement over energy consumption
On June 10, 2016 the bodies of the Swedish government reached a monumental agreement: While setting a date by which Sweden’s energy production will be 100 percent renewable, they also have a plan for more efficient nuclear power production. The new, broad agreement aims for 100 percent of Swedish energy consumption to come from renewable energy sources by 2040. Naturskyddsföreningen and Greenpeace Sverige are pleased that the politicians finally agreed in energy and hope that new nuclear plants won’t actually be needed, especially since “it is not possible to build nuclear power plants that are renewable,” according to Annica Jacobson, director of Greenpeace in Sweden. Svante Axelsson, Secretary General of Nature Conservation, sees the deal as a major victory for the environmental movement. “What made everything easy for politicians is that it is expensive to build new nuclear power plants and renewable energy is getting cheaper by the day. Conditions have changed dramatically.”
The spokespeople of the popular brand m&m will have to stay quiet in Sweden from now on.
Some newborns with Down syndrome are healthier
A new study from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm shows that newborns with Down syndrome have significantly lower risks of serious heart defects than they did just 20 years ago. The average number of babies born with Down syndrome remains fairly steady in Sweden — about 120 each year — although prenatal diagnoses have advanced and fetuses with severe complications from Down syndrome may be aborted; this can affect the data, but the number of mothers over the age of 35 has increased (older maternal age is the strongest risk factor for having a baby with Down syndrome). Among the 2600 babies born with Down syndrome in 1992 to 2012, about half had a congenital heart disease, and the need for surgery was 40 percent lower at the end of the period. It may be a reflection of prenatal care, but Dr. Stefan Johansson believes today’s babies born with Down syndrome are not only more heart-healthy, they are also healthy in other respects. The developmental disorder is caused by an extra chromosome that can affect brain development and other organs to different degrees, but it may also reduce the risk of some other diseases, which he hopes further research will reveal.
No more m&ms for Swedes after a recent Swedish court decision.