Harm reduction

The Belgium government is proceeding with its intentions to ban nicotine pouches, prompting questions as to why the country doesn’t allow for safer nicotine products to play a bigger role in the work towards a smoke-free generation. 

Last year, the Brussels Times and the Environment and Public Health Institute – EPHI, organised a seminar on new tobacco-free nicotine products and the upcoming revision of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), which regulates tobacco and nicotine products in all EU Member States. The seminar was held in the European Parliament.

The Dutch government is proposing a ban on the sale of nicotine pouches. While nicotine pouches should be regulated, a complete ban is misguided and could cause harm since it would remove a risk-reduced nicotine alternative from the market.

Are you ready for a hefty tax increase on your favourite nicotine pouches? It’s on the cards, as the European Commission is considering revising the EU’s tobacco excise directive and implementing a minimum level of taxation across the EU for these products.

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, BfR, released a health assessment on nicotine pouches today. Among other things, it deals with harm reduction, Sweden’s low smoking rate, and the nicotine strength of nicotine pouches.

The Guardian reports that a record 4.3 million people are vape users in the UK. The figures come from new research by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). The cousin to the nicotine pouch is more popular than ever, and most vape users are former smokers. That’s positive, but there are concerns about young people’s use of the products.

The Czech Republic took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1, 2022. While the Czechs will need to carry the EU through an energy crisis, a war in Ukraine, and galloping inflation, they will also have a six-month window to shape public health policies.

The National Coalition Party of Finland (Finnish: Kansallinen Kokoomus, Swedish: Samlingspartiet), the liberal-conservative party in Finland, recently decided at its party congress to work towards making the sale of snus legal in Finland.

As Pouch Patrol reported earlier this year, the British government commissioned an independent review of smoking-related health disparities in February. The independent study, led by Javed Khan, was published last week and the recommendations align with harm reduction strategies.

The EU parliament recently adopted the Special Committee on Beating Cancer ’s (BECA) final report – recognizing the potential contribution of alternative products to smoking cessation.