WHO Missing the Mark on Nicotine Pouches 

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest report on nicotine pouches follows a familiar pattern: alarm, suspicion, and calls for tighter restrictions. Unfortunately, this is hardly surprising. For some time, the WHO has treated reduced-risk products not as tools to help smokers quit, but as problems to be contained.

The issue is that this position is increasingly at odds with reality. Smoking still kills more than eight million people globally each year. Yet the WHO continues to group all nicotine products together, despite clear differences in risk profiles. It describes nicotine as “toxic and highly addictive” in relation to pouches and e-cigarettes, while at the same time including nicotine gums and patches on its Essential Medicines List. It is a contradiction that is becoming ever harder to ignore. 

“It is difficult to understand why products that demonstrably reduce the harms associated with smoking are treated as a threat rather than an opportunity.” says Markus Lindblad, Head of External Affairs at Haypp Group.

Countries Moving Ahead – Guided by the Evidence 

While the WHO clings to an increasingly outdated view, several countries have already stepped up and introduced modern regulatory frameworks. 

• In the United Kingdom, nicotine pouches are regulated under the Tobacco and Vapes Act, with clear rules on product standards, marketing, and age restrictions. In the United States, the FDA has conducted extensive reviews of nicotine pouches before authorising specific products as appropriate for the protection of public health. 

• Germany has taken a measured, science-based approach, relying on risk assessments that limit excessively strong products while maintaining access for adult users.  

• Meanwhile, Sweden—often cited internationally—has adopted a pragmatic approach to nicotine alternatives, contributing to the lowest smoking rates in Europe. 

This demonstrates that it is entirely possible to protect young people while ensuring adult smokers have access to less harmful alternatives. 

The Evidence Is Becoming Clearer 

The scientific picture of nicotine pouches is becoming increasingly clear. Toxicological studies show that modern products often have a chemical profile comparable to that of medicinal nicotine products. 

 At the same time, population data indicate that users are overwhelmingly current or former smokers—not individuals without prior nicotine use. This is not about creating new demand, but about providing alternatives for those who already use nicotine.

WHO Risks Holding Back Progress 

“If the goal is to reduce the harms associated with smoking, the conclusion is straightforward: policies grounded in science and risk differentiation are effective. “Countries that make this distinction are seeing faster declines in smoking and smoking-related diseases.” 

Treating all nicotine products as equally harmful carries an obvious risk—that cigarettes, the most dangerous product, are effectively shielded from competition. 

“The WHO should be leading efforts to distinguish between products that cause disease and those that can help reduce it. Until it does, its reports risk appearing increasingly out of step with both the science and the real-world progress already taking place in many countries.”