After the puffs, colorful disposable vapes with exotic tastes, which quickly became popular among the youngest and which will be soon banned In France, the “pouches” also worry health authorities. Like puffs, “pouches” encourage people to start smoking and can cause numerous health risks. This is why the Minister of Health, Geneviève Darrieussecq, confided in an interview au Parisian on October 29, 2024, its decision to soon ban these products.
“Pouches” (which translates to “pouch” in English), are small nicotine sachets disposable to place under the gum. “These permeable fabric bags do not contain tobacco but polymer fibers impregnated with nicotine” et “are to slide between the lip and the gum for diffusion of the substance through the buccogingival mucosa”, specifies the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES). Their diverse tastes and their low price (around 5 euros for a pack of 20) make them the new trendy product that young people are snapping up when they leave college. Nevertheless, ANSES recalls that “these products do not currently fall under any specific regulations in France or Europe”.
“Pouches”: why will these nicotine sachets soon be banned?
While these products may seem harmless, “These are dangerous products because they contain high doses of nicotine”, alerted the Minister of Health in her interview with Parisian. Furthermore, ANSES also recalled that “regular consumption of nicotine contained in these products exposes one to the development of an addiction medium and long term”.
According to Geneviève Darrieussecq, younger people are particularly exposed to nicotine sachets and their health risks. “Poison control centers are receiving more and more calls from teenagers for acute nicotine syndromessometimes severe, linked to the consumption of bags”, she warned, citing symptoms such as “vomiting, convulsions, hypotension, even disturbances of consciousness”. Indeed, ANSES recorded the calls received by poison control centers between 2017 and 2022 and observed that the majority of people poisoned following the consumption of nicotine sachets were aged between 12 and 17 years old.
We do not know the date of the ban on “pouches”
“The government decided to ban these productswhether nicotine sachets to place in the mouth, which are called “pouches”, but also similar products, which are just as problematic, in the form of gums or beads”, announced the Minister of Health to Le Parisien on October 29. However, she did not specify a date for the entry into force of this ban.
A few days before tobacco-free month, Geneviève Darrieussecq therefore wishes to take the opportunity to encourage prevention in order to dissuade young people from taking up smoking. Indeed, according to her, it is also “the opportunity to talk about other nicotine products on the market which can also be dangerous, particularly when used not by former smokers but by young people”.
Sources :
- “It is our duty to ban them”: pouches, these nicotine sachets which worry the minister – Le Parisien – October 29, 2024
- Sachets of nicotine or tobacco: a risk for young people – Anses – November 30, 2023
