- The WHO is urging governments to consider strict regulation – and potentially bans – on nicotine pouches, warning they risk creating “a new generation” addicted to nicotine
- The report argues nicotine pouches are being marketed with “youthful themes”, sweet flavours and “discreet” use messaging that could appeal to teenagers
- But the document also highlights a growing divide in global tobacco control over how lower-risk nicotine products should be treated compared with cigarettes
- Critics say increasingly restrictive approaches to safer nicotine products risk overlooking the role they may play for adults trying to move away from smoking
A major new World Health Organisation (WHO) report is calling for tougher restrictions on nicotine pouches.
The 152-page report, titled ‘Exposing marketing tactics and strategies driving the global growth of nicotine pouches’, warns that the products are being promoted in ways that could appeal to young people and urges governments to adopt “comprehensive future proof regulations” covering all tobacco and nicotine products.
WHO states that nicotine pouches are “aggressively marketed and promoted to young people” and says they are frequently advertised using “youthful themes, including fun times with friends, romance and sports”.
The report also raises concerns about flavours, branding and nicotine strength. It says some products contain “high concentrations of nicotine” and warns that flavour names such as “bubble gum” and “gummy bears” may be “particularly attractive to children”.
WHO argues that “without robust regulatory oversight, the proliferation of these products threatens to undermine decades of progress in tobacco control”.
Focus on youth appeal
Much of the report centres on concerns about youth uptake.
WHO says nicotine pouches are often marketed for “discreet” or “stealthy” use, “making it difficult to detect by parents or teachers, and as a way of breaking the rules”.
It also warns that social media promotion, influencer marketing and sponsorship of youth-oriented events are helping drive global growth.
According to the report, nicotine pouch manufacturers “commonly sponsor youth-oriented events, where nicotine pouches and branded merchandise are distributed by attractive, young ‘brand ambassadors’”.
WHO is urging countries to either ban nicotine pouches outright or introduce strict controls on advertising, flavours, packaging and nicotine concentrations.
The report states: “Where the commercialization (manufacture, sale, importation and distribution) of nicotine pouches is not prohibited, they should be strictly regulated to prevent marketing, youth appeal and initiation and to reduce demand.”
It adds that regulatory approaches “could include a ban, if in line with the country’s tobacco control policy goals”.
WHO also recommends governments “prohibit health-related claims by manufacturers, including their potential effectiveness as cessation products, unless the products are licensed and approved as such by regulators”.
A widening divide in tobacco control
The report arrives amid an increasingly polarised debate over how non-combustible nicotine products should be regulated.
While cigarettes kill millions globally each year, many public health experts distinguish between combustible tobacco products and smoke-free nicotine alternatives such as vapes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches.
The WHO report repeatedly groups nicotine pouches together with other tobacco and nicotine products, arguing that regulators should adopt “comprehensive regulatory approaches which cover all tobacco, nicotine and related products, including nicotine pouches”.
It says “all tobacco, nicotine and related products carry health risks, including the risk of addiction”.
But critics of WHO’s approach have long argued that treating all nicotine products similarly risks obscuring major differences in risk between combustible cigarettes and smoke-free alternatives.
The report itself focuses heavily on addiction, youth uptake and marketing practices, but contains comparatively limited discussion of whether nicotine pouches may reduce harm for adult smokers who would otherwise continue smoking cigarettes.
Instead, WHO recommends that nicotine pouches should not be treated as therapeutic products “unless they are proven to be nicotine replacement therapies by following stringent pharmaceutical pathways”.
The report also urges governments to “ban all forms of marketing and promotional activities” linked to nicotine pouches.
Global restrictions already growing
WHO says 16 countries had banned the sale of nicotine pouches as of the end of 2024, while 32 countries regulated them in some form.
Among those countries, WHO says five had imposed flavour restrictions and 26 restricted sales to minors.
The report describes nicotine pouches as products that often fall between regulatory “cracks”, which it says are “frequently exploited by the tobacco and nicotine industries”.
WHO also repeatedly references obligations under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), including Article 5.3, which requires governments to protect tobacco control policies from “commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry”.
That language reflects the increasingly hardline position some tobacco control bodies have taken towards the involvement of tobacco companies in smoke-free nicotine markets.
However, harm reduction advocates argue that an exclusive focus on industry involvement can distract from a central public health question, which is whether smokers who switch completely away from combustible cigarettes reduce their exposure to toxicants.
Unresolved harm reduction concerns
The WHO report makes clear that its central concern is preventing nicotine initiation among non-users, particularly adolescents.
It states: “Because most nicotine addiction begins in adolescence, youth protection should remain a central public health priority.”
That position is broadly shared across public health. But critics argue that policy debates such as this increasingly risk collapsing two separate questions into one -preventing youth uptake while also recognising that lower-risk nicotine products may offer a less harmful alternative for existing adult smokers.
The report itself acknowledges the “rapid growth” of nicotine pouches globally. But it frames that growth primarily as “a public health challenge with long term implications”.
WHO warns that nicotine pouches can “hook” users and “sustain addiction”. It also says initiation among young people may increase the likelihood of “future transition to other tobacco and related products”.
The report does not claim nicotine pouches are as dangerous as smoking cigarettes. However, harm reduction supporters will question whether the overall regulatory direction proposed by WHO adequately reflects the widely accepted continuum of risk between combustible tobacco and non-combustible nicotine products.
