The French health ministry has issued a sweeping ban on several widely-used nicotine-based products, including Zyn pouches, with strict penalties for those who disregard the new regulations. The ban targets various aspects such as the use, purchase, possession, and sale of oral nicotine products, including pouches and gum lozenges. Anyone caught breaching the law could face up to five years in prison and a fine reaching $436,600.
This ban specifically encompasses products like Zyn, a Swedish innovation that has gained substantial traction across Europe and the United States as a tobacco-free substitute for smoking.
Data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey highlights that, in 2024, nicotine pouches were the second most popular tobacco product among American minors, second only to e-cigarettes.
Known as sachets, these nicotine pouches are small, white packets filled with a nicotine-infused powder, often enhanced with flavors. Users insert them between their lip and gum, allowing nicotine to be absorbed into the bloodstream.
In a report from November 2023, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety noted that advertising for nicotine pouches and similar products is pervasive on social media, specifically targeting younger audiences.
In November 2023, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety reported that advertising for nicotine pouches and similar products is rampant across social media, where young consumers are being targeted.
The health ministry’s new rule classifies nicotine as a “toxic substance,” citing public health risks such as addiction and bouts of “acute nicotinic syndromes,” which in some severe cases can lead to prolonged vomiting with risk of dehydration, seizures and other debilitating side effects.
Chewing tobacco, medications and medical devices used to quit smoking — such as certain types of nicotine gums and inhalers — will not be subject to the ban, according to the French government.
The ban, which took effect April 1, also doesn’t apply to cigarettes or vape products.
European nations including Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have all moved to ban or tightly restrict the sale of nicotine pouches, but France is so far the only country to criminalize their use or possession.
Swedish Trade Minister Benjamin Dousa hit back at France’s crackdown on nicotine pouches, saying it’s as “if we would prohibit French baguettes or French wine in Sweden,” he told the Financial Times.
“It is absurd.”
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