Those impacts are especially a concern for Sweden, which is a leading consumer of nicotine pouches, followed by Germany, Poland and other Nordic countries.
The country has rapidly reduced smoking over the past 20 years, and its liberal policies on pouches are often cited by tobacco companies and industry-funded consumer groups as a model for others to follow.
But according to the WHO, Sweden’s success in suppressing smoking owes to a wide range of tobacco control measures including taxes, advertising restrictions and services to help people quit.
“Sweden’s overall positive experience is not as a result of snus [packaged tobacco] or nicotine pouches,” Ranti Fayokun, a scientist with the WHO’s smokefree initiative, told reporters on Thursday. She warned the Swedish example was being used to “promote nicotine addiction.”
Sales of pouches are surging, with the market growing 125 percent between 2019 and 2020 — faster than any other tobacco and related products, the WHO said in its report, citing 2020 data from tobacco giant Philip Morris International.
“These products are engineered for addiction and there is strong need to protect our youth from industry manipulation,” said Etienne Krug, director of the WHO’s health determinants, promotion and prevention department.
