A Swedish tobacco company’s petition to soften the warning labels on its smokeless chewing tobacco will force the Food and Drug Administration to decide whether a product that is less harmful than smoking tobacco should be allowed to market itself as a safer option.

The same question of whether to allow a marketing distinction between levels of harm in tobacco-based products has been raised by electronic cigarettes.

The application by the seller of snus (pronounced “snoose”) to put softer “modified risk” warnings on its product is the first to receive full consideration by the F.D.A. under a 2009 law that allows alternative labels. The agency hopes to rule by June.

The issue is whether modified warnings would encourage tobacco use in somewhat less toxic forms and if such a result would be better for public health. For now, there’s no strong evidence that a modified warning would help many individual users or benefit the population as a whole. Unless there is such evidence, a softer label might only lure more people into the nicotine market.