{"id":143032,"date":"2026-05-17T12:49:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/05\/17\/who-has-warned-about-the-increasing-addiction-of-nicotine-pouches-among-the-youth\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T12:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:51:12","slug":"who-has-warned-about-the-increasing-addiction-of-nicotine-pouches-among-the-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/05\/17\/who-has-warned-about-the-increasing-addiction-of-nicotine-pouches-among-the-youth\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO has warned about the increasing addiction of nicotine pouches among the youth."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"body-f58778d2-294e-4f1b-aa2e-e1e2863867a2\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n            <span itemprop=\"author\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Organization\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"News Medical\"\/><meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.news-medical.net\/\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) has today issued a stark warning over the rapid global expansion of nicotine pouch products, which are being aggressively marketed to adolescents and youth. WHO says regulation is limited or absent in many countries, raising concerns about nicotine addiction and related health risks among youth.<\/p>\n<p>The report comes in the lead up to World No Tobacco Day (May 31), which this year will focus on tobacco and nicotine addiction and the tactics used by the industry to attract a new generation of users.<\/p>\n<p>Nicotine pouches are small pouches placed between the gum and lip that release nicotine through the lining of the mouth. These usually contain nicotine, flavors, sweeteners, and other additives. Retail sales of nicotine pouches are projected to reach more than 23 billion units in 2024, an increase of more than 50% from the previous year.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Nicotine pouch use is spreading rapidly, while regulation is struggling to keep pace. \u201cGovernments must act now with strong, evidence-based protection measures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Dr. Vinayak Prasad, Unit Head of WHO&#8217;s Tobacco Free Initiative<\/p>\n<p>&#13;\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>WHO&#8217;s first global report on this topic is titled, <em>To highlight the marketing tactics and strategies driving the growth of nicotine pouches<\/em>Nicotine pouches were developed in response to requests from countries seeking official guidance from WHO on how governments should respond. The global market for nicotine pouch products was estimated to be worth approximately US$7 billion in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>WHO emphasizes that nicotine itself is highly addictive and harmful, especially to children, adolescents and young adults whose brains are still developing. Nicotine use during adolescence can affect brain development, including effects on attention and learning. Early nicotine use may increase the likelihood of long-term dependence and use of other nicotine and tobacco products in the future. Nicotine use also increases cardiovascular risk.<\/p>\n<h2>Regulatory shortcomings leave youth exposed<\/h2>\n<p>Nicotine pouches often fall through the regulatory cracks:<\/p>\n<p><!-- end mobile middle mrec --><\/p>\n<ul>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>About 160 countries have no specific regulation;<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>16 countries banned their sale; And<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>32 countries regulate these in some form, including:\n<ul>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>5 banned tastes<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>26 Prohibiting sales to minors<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>21 Restrictions on advertising, promotion and sponsorship.<\/li>\n<p>&#13;\n\t<\/ul>\n<p>&#13;\n\t<\/li>\n<p>&#13;\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cGovernments are finding that the use of these products is spreading rapidly, especially among adolescents and young people, who are being aggressively targeted by deceptive tactics,\u201d said Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of the Department of Health Determinants, Promotion and Prevention at WHO. \u201cThese products are designed to be addictive and our youth desperately need to be protected from the manipulation of the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span>Marketing strategy designed to attract young users<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The report highlights broader industry strategies to attract younger audiences, including:<\/p>\n<ul>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Sleek, discreet packaging;<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Flavors like bubble gum and gummy bears;<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Effective marketing and heavy promotion on social media;<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Sponsorship of concerts, festivals and sporting events, including Formula 1;<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>aspirational lifestyle branding; And<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Messages that encourage judicious use and smoke-free settings in schools.<\/li>\n<p>&#13;\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some packaging mimics sweets or popular candy brands, increasing the risk for young children.<\/p>\n<p>The report warns that all of these tactics are designed to normalize nicotine use, reduce risk perception, and attract a new generation of users to nicotine addiction.<\/p>\n<h2>Call for immediate action<\/h2>\n<p>WHO has urged governments to adopt comprehensive regulation covering all tobacco and nicotine products, including nicotine pouches. Recommended measures include:<\/p>\n<ul>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Restrictions or strict restrictions on flavors;<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>restrictions on advertising, promotion and sponsorship, including the use of social media and influencers;<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Strong age-verification and retail controls;<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>clear health warnings and plain packaging;<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Limits on permitted amounts of nicotine;<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Taxation to reduce affordability and prevent youth use;<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>monitoring usage patterns and industry strategy; And<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Strong implementation of policies.<\/li>\n<p>&#13;\n<\/ul>\n<p>Nicotine pouches should not be considered risk-free. Nevertheless, some products are being sold in multiple strength levels as &#8220;Beginner&#8221;, &#8220;Advanced&#8221; and &#8220;Expert&#8221;, with nicotine amounts labeled up to 150 mg.<\/p>\n<p>WHO urges youth to recognize and reject industry tactics designed to normalize nicotine use. Urgent, coordinated action today can help save a new generation from nicotine dependence.<\/p>\n<div id=\"sources\" class=\"content-source below-content-common-a\">\n<p>Source:<\/p>\n<div class=\"content-src-value\">\n<p><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.who.int\">World Health Organization<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) has today issued a stark warning over the rapid global expansion of nicotine pouch products, which are being aggressively marketed to adolescents and youth. WHO says regulation is limited or absent in many countries, raising concerns about nicotine addiction and related health risks among youth. The report comes in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[5742,2136,1803,24182,24183,875,604],"class_list":["post-143032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-meditation","tag-addiction","tag-among","tag-increasing","tag-nicotine","tag-pouches","tag-warned","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143034,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143032\/revisions\/143034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}